The Clothing Makers
Clothing is rare in the archaeological world of the ancient Near East. Because the material is organic, it often deteriorates long before archaeologists can find them; but occasionally the right conditions align to preserve such material, as seen in the pictures on display. Otherwise, archaeologists must fill in their understanding of what ancient clothing looked like through the discovery of pictures, clothing accessories, and the items used to make clothing. The artifacts on display show examples from each of these categories. Picture #1 is a replica of an ancient Egyptian tomb painting that shows what the clothing (and hair) styles of the ancient Egyptians and West Semitic peoples (such as the ancient Canaanites and Israelites) looked like. Some of the more common clothing accessories found are cloak pins, some of which are also known as toggle pins or fibulas. The ancient people made their clothing from a variety of materials, including wool, leather, and linen, spinning the yarn and weaving the fabrics themselves. The practice of dying cloth was not uncommon, though it could be painstaking (it would take about 119 pounds of murex shells (#14) to produce 1 gram of purple dye)!
Artifacts on Display:
Two Toggle Pins
Date: unknown
Provenance: unknown
Composition: bronze
Collection: LCA Permanent CollectionTwo Partial Toggle Pins
Date: unknown (longer one) and Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000 - 1500 BC) (shorter one)
Provenance: unknown (longer one) and Tell el-Hayyat, Jordan (shorter one)
Composition: bronze
Collection: LCA Permanent Collection (longer one) and Tell el-Hayyat Collection (shorter one)Hellenistic Child Figurine
Date: Hellenistic Period (c. 4th - 2nd century BC)
Provenance: unknown
Composition: clay
Collection: on loan from the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State UniversityScythian or Early Sassanian Belt Buckle with Horse Design
Date: c. 6th - 5th century BC
Provenance: unknown
Composition: bronze
Collection: on loan from the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State UniversityFibula Fragment
Date: Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000 - 1500 BC)
Provenance: Tell el-Hayyat, Jordan
Composition: bronze
Collection: Tell el-Hayyat CollectionFibula
Date: unknown
Provenance: unknown
Composition: bronze:
Collection: LCA Permanent CollectionGoat Hair Fabric
Date: modern
Provenance: Israel
Composition: goat hair
Collection: LCA CollectionNeedle
Date: unknown
Provenance: unknown
Composition: iron
Collection: LCA Permanent CollectionLoom Weight
Date: Iron Age (c. 1200 - 6th century BC)
Provenance: unknown
Composition: stone
Collection: LCA Permanent CollectionSpindle Whorl
Date: unknown
Provenance: unknown
Composition: stone
Collection: LCA Permanent CollectionSpindle Whorl
Date: unknown
Provenance: unknown
Composition: bone
Collection: LCA Permanent CollectionSpindle Whorl
Date: unknown
Provenance: unknown
Composition: clay
Collection: LCA Permanent CollectionThree Spindle Whorls
Date: unknown
Provenance: unknown
Composition: stone
Collection: LCA Permanent CollectionMurex Shell
Date: modern
Provenance: Israel
Composition: shell
Collection: Patterson Collection
Pictures on Display
Replica of Tomb Painting from Beni Hasan
Date: c. 1900 BC (Middle Kingdom Period)
Provenance: original is from the Beni-Hasan cemetery, Egypt
Composition: replica is paint on papyrus
Collection: LCA Permanent CollectionEgyptian Pleated Linen Tunic
Date: c. 2435-2118 BC (Old Kingdom Period)
Provenance: Asyut, Egypt
Composition: linen
Collection: Egyptian Museum, Turin, ItalyEgyptian Sandals
Date: c. 1390-1352 BC (New Kingdom Period)
Provenance: Tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu, Valley of the Kings, Egypt
Composition: grass, reed, papyrus
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of ArtBeadwork Apron of Senebtisi
Date: c. 1850-1775 BC (Middle Kingdom Period)
Provenance: Tomb of Senwosret, Lisht, Egypt
Composition: faience
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of ArtScene of Women Making Cloth from Lekythos Depicted in #7 Rolled Out
Date: c. 550-530 BC
Provenance: unknown
Composition: clay
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of ArtReconstructed Israelite Upright Loom
Date: based on looms used in the 10th - 7th centuries BC
Provenance: Israel
Composition: wood and clay
Collection: Eretz Israel Museum, IsraelLekythos Showing Women Making Cloth
Date: c. 550-530 BC
Provenance: unknown
Composition: clay
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of ArtEgyptian Model of Women Making Cloth on a Horizontal Loom
Date: c. 2150-1991 BC (Dynasty 11, Middle Kingdom Period)
Provenance: Tomb of chancellor and high steward Meketre, Thebes, Egypt
Composition: wood and paint
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art