Textiles and Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean by Brøns Cecilie Nosch Marie-Louise

Author:Brøns, Cecilie,Nosch, Marie-Louise
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781785706738
Publisher: Casemate Publishers & Book Distributors, LLC
Published: 2017-07-30T16:00:00+00:00

12

“Temple key” or distaff? An ambiguous artefact from the Greek and indigenous sanctuaries of southern Italy

Alessandro Quercia

The different stages in the process of textile production in Classical Antiquity involved the use of various tools and equipment made of different materials such as clay, metals, bone, wood etc.1 Archaeological deposits have yielded numerous objects which can be hypothetically related to textile making activities, however, only rarely do contexts provide us with secure evidence that some of them were associated with and employed in textile making. Among such objects are the “bow-” and “right-angle-” shaped metal rods, which are commonly interpreted as “temple keys”, and attested in numerous sanctuaries and tombs in southern Italy, with a particular concentration in Lucania,2 an area of intense cultural contact between Greek and indigenous communities. However, as I will show, evidence from Greek red-figure vases makes it possible that some of these ambiguous metal objects would have been also used for textile production purposes, especially as distaffs in the spinning process.

The aim of this paper is to provide a preliminary picture of the available evidence for these objects from Greek and indigenous sanctuaries in Lucania and neighbouring areas, as well as from burials and domestic contexts. I will examine the role that these objects might have played in Classical Antiquity and their effectiveness and feasibility as distaffs in the manufacture of textiles. Finally, I will advance some observations, emphasising that this material opens questions rather than providing firm conclusions on this still ambiguous object.

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