Welcome to Textile-Dates
The online database on radiocarbon dated textiles and historical-dated textiles1 (1st millennium BC and AD)
For the actual database click here. If you want to use a large scale version of the database click here.
If you have problems using the new interface or understanding the used nomenclature see how to use.
You can also find detailed information on the project connected to this website, as well as links to the many cooperating museums, labs and institutions helping us to enrich and enlarge said project. As this categorie is still under further construction some names might still be missing.
We would like to thank all the contributers at this point for their much appreciated participation!
Besides, this website provides some general information on radiocarbon dating, helpful links concerning archeological textile research and a well sorted bibliography related to the shorter references stated in each database-entry.
If you have any questions or hints, please, don't hesitate to contact us via caub@uni-bonn.de.
Our online database is on principle ongoing: of course there are many more textiles, that have been radiocarbon dated/ historical-dated1 than appear here so far, and many more dates will result from future datings. So the database itself for the time being will not be a finished work.
Responsible for the contents of the databases columns are the persons who submitted the information. We do not change any classification as, for example, "medieval", "tabby" or similar. In case of questions or disagreement please turn to the persons in charge of the different collections and museums. An empty field in an entry means that we did not receive any information so far. On the other hand, if you find an aspect stating „unknown“, it is definitely not known until now.
Historical-dated textiles
Historical-dated textiles are textiles dated due to inscriptions (e.g. the so called „Löwenstoff“ of St. Servatius in Siegburg, Germany. The woven greek inscription refers to Emperor Romanos. The silk can therefore be dated to 921-923. For further information see P. Brachwitz, Der „Löwenstoff“ - Geschichte und Konservierung eines byzantinischen Seidengewebes, in S. Martius – S. Ruß (eds.), Historische Textilien. Beiträge zu ihrer Erhaltung und Erforschung (Nürnberg 2002) 103-118) or due to a study of their stratigraphic context and relationship. The methods used can contain – and combine – any dating methodologies known in archaeology as e.g. dendrochronology, numismatics, and archaeomagnetic dating.