Textile finds from a Chieftain's grave: Preliminary report from Poprad-Matejovce, Slovakia

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Archaeological Textiles Review No. 56
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Archaeological
Textiles Review
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Elisabeth Winco Hecke, Ireland
Johanna Banck-Burgess, Germany
Tereza Štolcová, Slovakia
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Editorial
Articles
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Documenting Archaeological Textiles with
Reectance Transformation Imaging (RTI)
Emily Frank
Material Identication and Technological
Analysis of a 7th-century BC Excavated
Textile from Argos, Greece
Christina Margariti and Alkistis Papadimitriou
Investigating Wool Fibres from Danish
Prehistoric Textiles
Irene Skals and Ulla Mannering
Loom Weights of the Persian Period from
Khirbat Burin, Israel
Orit Shamir and Uzi ‘Ad
Early Bronze Age Textile Imprints
from Tall Bderi and Tall Mozan,
Northern Mesopotamia/Syria
Ulrike Rothenhäusler and
Antoinee Rast-Eicher
Textile Finds from a Chieftain’s Grave:
Preliminary Report from
Poprad-Matejovce, Slovakia
Tereza Štolcová, Dorte Schaarschmidt
and Sylvia Mitschke
Achaemenid and Sassanian Trousers
from Douzlakh Salt Mine at Chehr Abad, Iran
Julia Barbara Krug-Ochmann
Evidence for Textiles in Loma Negra, Peru,
as Recorded in Copper Corrosion
Julie Unruh
24
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65

Contents
1Archaeological Textiles Review No. 56
78Textile Archaeology in Roman Venetia
Anna Rosa Tricomi
Middle Byzantine Silk in Context: Integrating the
Textual and Material Evidence
Julia Galliker
A Forgoen Cultural Heritage: Late Antique
Textiles in Swedish Museum Collections
Maciej Szymaszek
A Query
Nancy Spies
Reviews
Resources
93
107
94
95
5th Purpureae Vestes International Symposium
Zi Jonker
Textile Society of America, 14th Biennial
Symposium
Susanna Harris
Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the
Mediterranean and Europe 1000 BC–AD 1000
Henrik Holmboe
NESAT XII
Felicity Wild
Dyes in History and Archaeology 33
Margareta Bergstrand
Traditional Textile Craft – an Intangible
Cultural Heritage
Ulla Lund Hansen
Three CCCC International Workshops
Charloe Rimstad
Crafting Textiles from the Bronze Age to
AD 1600: A Tribute to Peter Collingwood
Beatrix Nu
Recent publications, websites,
and dissertations
82
96
97
98
103
Projects
90
92
105

Archaeological Textiles Review No. 5650
Tereza Štolcová, Dorte Schaarschmidt and Sylvia Mitschke
Textile Finds from a
Chieftain’s Grave
Preliminary Report from Poprad-
Matejovce, Slovakia
Introduction
A double-chambered chieftain’s grave from Poprad-
Matejovce discovered in 2005 is dated to the early
Migration period (late 4th/early 5th century AD). Over
four months in 2006, an interdisciplinary group of
specialists covering archaeology, archaeobotany,
geology, geophysics, palynology, dendrochronology
and conservation carried out the rescue excavation
(Pieta and Roth 2007; Belanová and Pieta 2007; Pieta
2009; Štolcová et al. 2009, Štolcová and Zink 2013;
Lau and Pieta 2014). It was done in collaboration of
three institutions: the Archeologický ústav Slovenskej
akadémie vied in Nitra, the Podtatranské múzeum
in Poprad and the Archäologisches Landesmuseum,
Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen,
Schloss Goorf in Schleswig. Although the grave was
penetrated by ancient robbers, it yielded abundant
evidence of organic nds: wooden furniture parts,
leather objects, bast fragments and layers of textiles.
Fragile waterlogged organic nds as well as in situ
blocks were transported to Schleswig, where they
were stored at a temperature of -20°C and since then
have been processed step by step under laboratory
conditions.
The grave consisted of outer and inner chambers made
of European larch (Larix decidua Mill.) with a north-
south orientation (Fig. 1). At a depth of ve metres
below the present surface, the base of the structure
was constructed as a platform of twelve over four
meter long timbers set on two round beams. On top of
it was the outer log-built chamber of L: 3.95 m, W: 2.70
m and H: 2.00 m. It was covered using 12 solid beams.
The sarcophagus-like inner chamber (2.90 x 1.70 m)
was built in a muntin-and-plank construction, covered
with a gabled roof and pediments on each side. The
Articles
Fig. 1. View of the grave at the end of the excavation
in 2006 (Photo: Karol Pieta).
grave was insulated by a layer of charcoal from the
surrounding area. The ancient robbery event not only
caused surrounding silt sediment and underground
water to ll it up, but also helped to preserve the
organic objects. Additionally, very few goods were
left in the grave after the robbery and most of those
that remained had been displaced. The dispersed
human body remains belong to a 20-25 year-old male
individual with a height of 171 cm. Apart from that,
there was a pendant made of a golden solidus of the
emperor Valens (375 AD), some poery, a glazed
mortarium and a bronze Hemmoor bucket. Also found
were a gaming board with glass gaming pieces, a
bronze arrowhead, a silver clasp, a silver awl with

51Archaeological Textiles Review No. 56
wooden handle, an amber bead and many hazelnuts
spread around the oor of the inner chamber. Above
all, there were many parts of wooden furniture turned
on lathe (e.g. a death bed and a round table), layers
Articles
Fig. 2a. Detailed GIS-based visualisation of the grave (© Karin Göbel).
of textiles, various leather objects and a basket. The
wooden parts of the grave construction are still being
conserved in Schloss Goorf in Schleswig. After a
time-consuming conservation process, the wooden

Archaeological Textiles Review No. 5652
furniture was transported to Slovakia in 2013. First
analyses of the grave inventory in the Geographical
Information System (Fig. 2a) as well as outputs of
3D-digitalised nds (Fig. 2b) have shown very exciting
results. However, the nal evaluation and laboratory
examination of in situ blocks is still an ongoing process,
and it has great potential to give us a much deeper
insight into the culture of the early Migration period
in northern Slovakia.
Processing of the in situ blocks
The laboratory examination of the in situ blocks
was executed in several stages (Fig. 3). It started in
Schleswig in 2008 within the European project Clothing
and Identities – New Perspectives on Textiles in the Roman
Empire (DressID) when parts of the oor of the inner
chamber were examined (Štolcová et al. 2009; Štolcová
and Lau 2013; Štolcová and Zink 2013). Stable and
cold laboratory conditions with a suction unit were
established to process the large waterlogged in situ
blocks. The cleaning of the fragile organic objects was
done with a ne air-brush and demineralised water,
small brushes, delicate dental tools and tweezers. All
the stages of the excavation were accompanied by
close examination through an operation microscope.
Thus, even the nest structures of textile remains in
the soil of an in situ block could be traced. Among
other things the documentation was made with the
help of a drawing tube aached to the microscope.
This guaranteed an exact documentation of delicate
but mostly decayed textile remains and their
surrounding context. All sketches and photographs
were later edited and integrated into the Geographic
Information System database (Štolcová and Zink 2013,
Fig. 9). The organic nds retrieved from the blocks
were processed in the wood conservation department
in Schleswig or stored in a freezing room for further
treatment. These excavation and documentation
methods have also been applied to the latest stage of
the laboratory research, which started in 2013 under
the German Research Foundation’s project Das
frühvölkerwanderungszeitliche Kammergrab von Poprad,
Slowakei – Ein interdisziplinäres Forschungsprojekt
Articles
Fig. 2b. 3D-reconstruction of the inner and outer
chamber (© Karin Göbel).
Fig. 3. Documentation of fragile organic nds in the
laboratory (Photo: Claudia Janke).
Fig. 4. Tablet-woven textile fragment with severely
degraded threads in both systems (Photo: Tereza
Štolcová).

53Archaeological Textiles Review No. 56
zur Auswertung eines außergewöhnlichen Fundes (The
Migration-period chamber grave at Poprad, Slovakia –
an interdisciplinary research project for the evaluation
of an extraordinary nd). In collaboration between
the Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology
in Schleswig, the Niedersächsisches Landesamt für
Denkmalpege in Hannover, the Koninklijk Instituut
voor het Kunstpatrimonium in Brussels and the Curt-
Engelhorn-Zentrum für Archäometrie in Mannheim,
the remaining in situ blocks are currently being
processed in Hannover and are revealing new and
interesting nds.
Articles
Fig. 5a. Detailed photo of the carbonized fabric made
in sprang technique (Photo: Tereza Štolcová).
Fig. 5b. Plant bre from sprang textile fragment
identied in SEM (Photo: Sylvia Mitschke).
Results
Although textiles were the least preserved organic
material from the grave, it was still possible to detect
many layers of various types. Most of the textiles could
be determined as being made of sheep’s wool (OVIS)
the preservation of which may have been caused
by the acidic environment in the grave. Apart from
remains of decayed tabbies, twills and microscopic
fragments of golden threads, it was possible to identify
several tablet-woven textiles, a single piece of sprang
and parts of a slit tapestry fabric. The large collection
of recovered leather objects is assumed to have been
connected to the textiles as well.
Tablet-woven textiles
On a small wooden plank from inside of the inner
chamber, the remains of woollen tablet-woven textiles
were still aached (Štolcová et al. 2009, 273, Fig. 10).
One of the fragments was made with approximately
nine four-holed tablets, which corresponds to c. 36
threads per cm. The paern 3S-3Z-3S consists of three
tablets twisted in the same way (S) alternating with
three tablets twisted in the opposite way (Z). Due
to their poor state of preservation it was possible to
determine neither the spin direction nor the original
dimensions (Fig. 4).
Fig. 5c. Reconstruction of sprang technique based on
the nd from the grave (Photo: Tereza Štolcová, re-
construction by Juraj Zajonc).

Archaeological Textiles Review No. 5654
Articles
Fig. 6a. Largest preserved
piece of a slit tapestry textile
(Photo: Dorte Schaarschmidt).
Fig. 6b. Detail of the reinforced selvedge of the tap-
estry textile (Photo: Dorte Schaarschmidt).
Sprang
A small fragment of sprang fabric (6 mm x 2.5 mm)
preserved through carbonisation was found on the
boom of the inner chamber (Fig. 5a). Its analysis with
the scanning electron microscope has proved that it
was created from very ne, about 0.2 mm thick z-spun
threads, made from a plant material, most possibly
linen (Linum usitatissimum L.) (Fig. 5b). The fragment
consists of a simple interlinked sprang 11/11 structure
with alternating z and s twists in each row (Seiler-
Baldinger 1994, 52, Fig. 95b). Its reconstruction showed
that the rows with S twists were made from the right
to the left side whereas the rows with Z twists were
executed from the left to the right (Fig. 5c).
Tapestry
Recent examination of a wooden plank from the
eastern side of the outer chamber revealed one of
the best preserved textile fragments in the grave.
After recovery, unfolding and initial cleaning, it was
revealed that the textile was produced in a slit tapestry
technique (Fig. 6a). It consists of many fragments
within which the largest piece has a size of 14.5 cm
x 16.7 cm. Its reinforced selvedge was created by a
brown weft running over three warp threads (Fig. 6b).
The ground plain weft-faced weave creates a palmee-

55Archaeological Textiles Review No. 56
Articles
Fig. 6c. Detail of the half-moon shapes and reddish
stripe ornament (Drawing: Dorte Schaarschmidt).
Fig. 6d. Sample of aligned woollen remains in the
openings in SEM (Photo: Sylvia Mitschke).

Archaeological Textiles Review No. 5656
Articles
Fig. 6e. Detail of a braided
border from the tapestry
textile (Drawing: Dorte
Schaarschmidt).
Fig. 7a. Remains of gold strips found in decayed
layers of textiles (Photo: Tereza Štolcová).
Fig. 7b. Looped thread with fragments of golden
strips wound around the black core (Photo: Tereza
Štolcová).

57Archaeological Textiles Review No. 56
like paern through the use of at least three dierent
coloured wefts. The palmee is formed by brown and
black wefts with an inlay of red threads in the rounded
areas followed by an intricate ornament of a reddish
stripe with light brown squares and half-moon shapes
set in wide openings (Fig. 6c). Microscopic traces of
textile remains in these openings indicate that they
were originally lled with another, presumably ner,
yarn (Fig. 6d). The dierent coloured parts of the
fabric1 are connected through the continuing use of
the same warp with another weft and thus show the
typical slits, creating a slanting edge in the ornament.
Coloured parts are also connected using a variation
of dovetailed joints with two weft threads turning
back around a common warp thread of the adjacent
area and creating a straight line in the paern. Both
warps and wefts were identied as woollen. The warp
threads are 0.65 mm thick and their thread count
is about nine to ten threads per cm. The dierent
coloured wefts vary slightly in their thickness from
0.4 mm to about 1.0 mm. Depending on which colour
was used for the weft, the thread count diers from
seven to eight weft threads per cm in the black
areas, about 15 weft threads per cm in the brown
areas and up to 20 threads in the reddish stripe of
the ornament. The most distinctive threads of black,
brown and red colour were determined as z-spun
whereas the least preserved remains, which originally
lled the symmetrically arranged openings, were
only microscopically identied as woollen remnants
of aligned structure. An ongoing examination of the
last in situ block found in the same area as the above
described piece yields further details of this textile. It
is a horizontal edge of the same tapestry textile with
remains of warp threads nished in a braided style
(Fig. 6e).
Gold threads and gold embroidery
Scaered all over the oor of the inner chamber,
remains of gold threads and thin gold strips were
found in decayed layers of textiles. These include either
fragments of gold strips wound around a decayed
black core or remains of narrow and straight stripes
cut from a gold leaf, which are c. 1 mm wide and 20
μm thick (Fig. 7a). Lastly, a gold thread with a black
core creating seven loops in a spiral-like ornament
has been preserved (Fig. 7b). It can be presumed that
it was originally part of a larger piece of embroidery.
Textiles and leather
So far, more than 80 single leather pieces were found
in the grave. Most of the leather nds were well
preserved due to the slightly acidic pH-value of the
soil, as well as the waterlogged conditions. All of them
Articles
Fig. 8a. An ornamented open-work leather piece of
triangular shape, size c. 20 x 23 cm (Photo: Tereza
Štolcová).
Fig. 8b. Leather trefoil aached to a strip, remains of
stitching clearly visible (Photo: Tereza Štolcová).
Fig. 8c. Leather loop (Photo: Tereza Štolcová).

Archaeological Textiles Review No. 5658
bear traces of stitching and therefore may have been
connected to an already decayed underlying material,
most probably textiles (Fig. 8a). They consist of various
ornamental pieces like numerous trefoils (Fig. 8b) or
leather loops (Fig. 8c) and strips of many sizes and
types. Presumably they were parts of clothing.
Future perspectives
As research on the Poprad-Matejovce grave is still
ongoing, it is not possible to state the exact cultural
context of the grave. Chronologically it belongs to the
so-called North Carpathian Group, whose selements
can be found in hilly areas of northern Slovakia, but
graves from this region are very rare (Pieta 1991, 376;
Lau and Pieta 2014, 361). The costly construction of
both chambers, as well as the inventory containing
coloured tapestry pieces, remains of golden threads
and intricate leather objects points to the highest social
class in Europe, known from comparable Late Roman
graves like Pilgramsdorf (Lau 2012; 2014), Neudorf-
Bornstein (Abegg-Wigg 2014) or Gommern (Becker
2010). The inuence of the Roman Empire is visible in
many aspects on the nds from Poprad, above all in
the form of the inner grave chamber and the furniture
as well as some grave goods like the golden solidus or
the glazed mortarium. However, the date and place
of the burial also indicate that there may be many
dierent elements intermingled together. Strontium
isotope analyses planned for the near future will
hopefully answer questions about the origins of these
nds. Further conservation, detailed documentation,
technical analysis and evaluation of textile and leather
remains as well as colour and dye analyses will bring
essential insights into the production and use of
textiles in the Late Roman period and the beginning
of the Migration period from the territory of Slovakia.
Notes
1. Samples for dye analyses of this textile were
submied to Ina Vanden Berghe from the Koninklijk
Instituut voor het Kunstpatrimonium in Brussels.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Ina Vanden Berghe, Claus von Carnap-
Bornheim, Karin Göbel, Nina Lau, Monika Lehmann,
Karol Pieta, Lise Ræder Knudsen, Juraj Zajonc,
Gabriele Zink, the DFG project LA 2891/2-1 Das
frühvölkerwanderungszeitliche Kammergrab von Poprad,
Slowakei – Ein interdisziplinäres Forschungsprojekt zur
Auswertung eines außergewöhnlichen Fundes and the
VEGA project No. 0117/12 Between the Antiquity and
the Middle Ages. Ethnic-Cultural Relations in the Middle
Danubian Region from the Celtic Occupation till the
Beginning of the Middle Ages.
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Corresponding Author: tereza.stolcova@gmail.com
Articles

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