Deadline Extended! International Conference “Textile Production, Consumption and Trade in Iron Age Europe” – Call for Papers

Call for participation to the international conference

Textile Production, Consumption and Trade in Iron Age Europe

19-21 May 2022 – Muro Leccese (Italy)

Organised by Working Group 4, open to all the WGs
Organisers: Francesco Meo and Francisco B. Gomes

Textile production is one of the main cultural, economic, and social components of any ancient society. The study of textile tools and their uses in the different stages of textile manufacture, as well as of the fabrics themselves, has led to a deeper understanding of the production processes involved and of the social and cultural choices underlying textile production, leading to a growing interest on the subject of ancient textile production, consumption, and trade.

For millennia, most households produced cloth on a small scale for their own consumption. The social changes brought about during the early first millennium BC heralded the development of an increasingly specialized luxury and surplus textile production on a larger scale.

The Iron Age is therefore a key period for the understanding of textile techniques and technologies. As these are often culture-specific, this conference aims at exploring textile production, consumption, and trade in the different European Iron Age societies in order to compare them and develop an integrated panorama of Iron Age textile cultures and their interactions.

In more detail, the conference will focus on several aspects:

  • how the different phases of textile production were articulated during the Iron Age societies;
  • if there were technical and technological innovation in some societies and in which context they originated;
  • if and how the products change and in which geographical and social contexts;
  • how textile production was regulated;
  • if there are evidences of textile trade and how it was structured;
  • and if there are suitable theoretical frameworks to compare data from so many different cultures in the same period.

EuroWeb offers the best platform to undertake such a of textile production. This event is organized by the Working Group 4 but is open to the other Working Groups in order to approach the main themes of the conference from a multidisciplinary point of view.

We invite case studies on different modes of production, consumption, and trade with considerations on their context and impact on the respective societies. Presentations focusing on the comparison of production organisation in different areas are particularly welcome.

The call for papers is open until the 15th March 2022. Please, upload your title and abstract of a maximum of 300 words using this form.

The acceptance of papers will be notified by the 21st of March 2022. Participants will have up to 20 minutes to discuss their papers.

More information about the Conference will be announced at the end of March 2022.