To weave or not to weave? Textile production and the development of a technological habitus in Cypriote Prehistory

Textile archaeology represents a rather elusive field of investigation, just as the products of textile activities archaeologically are. The scarcity of information on Cypriot Neolithic and Chalcolithic adds to this inevitable elusiveness. These two aspects may have led scholars to underestimate the importance of the few available pre-BA documents, which, however, suggest an initial textile production as early as the Neolithic. Additionally, besides shedding some light on a regional aspect of the history of technology, these documents may provide a valuable contribution to the wider debate on the character and development of the technological habitus of prehistoric communities in an insular context. The goal of this study is to try to delineate the evidence related to textile production in pre-BA contexts. Towards this end, it is necessary to examine different textile markers relevant to primary (textile tools and products) and secondary (raw materials and iconography) evidence. © 2018, Gangemi Editore. All rights reserved.