Karanis / Wool

About this Item

Record Details

Object Identifier

0000.01.2936

Other Number

Midgley 24.001.076

Type of Number

Catalogue Number

Lot

University of Michigan excavation (Karanis) Undetermined date

Collections

Kelsey Permanent Artifact Collections

Object Type

Textiles

Materials

Wool

Length

A - 14

B - 14

C - 3;

Width

;A - 18

B - 8.5

C - 3

Height

;

Thickness

;

Weight

;

Inscribed

no

Full Artifact Description

Three fragments of the same woven wool fabric that have been sewn together. All three have brown/gold warp and weft and a blue/black weft band.

Fragment A - the weft band is near the center, 5.5 cm wide. There are remnants of countered weft-twining rows approximately 0.3 cm on either side. There are two more, very worn, twining rows, 1 cm and 1.5 cm from the inner rows. The twining loops pass over three warps.

Fragment B - blue/black band 5.5 cm

brown 8 cm

Fragment C - blue/black band 1.1 cm This fragment has been folded several times and complete measurement is not possible.

A yarn caught near a corner of fragment A may be cotton (?). see Jane

Unit Grid Number

5022

Area

R

Verbatim Provenance

Egypt

Verbatim Site

Karanis

Countermark

no

Condition Notes

Dirty, with a small amount of encrusted mud. Very worn, with a few interior holes and large edge tears. The blue bands of all three fragments have damaged wefts that leave exposed warps. Some of the twining yarns are missing. Some edge fraying.

Fabric Structure

Weft-faced plain weave.

Border Type

none

Selvedge Type

none

Sewing

Part of a weft-wise edge of fragment A was folded once and sewn with yellow running stitches, 0.4 cm to 0.7 cm long. There is an overhand knot at one end. One stitch also attaches part of fragment C. Part of a warp-wise edge of fragment A was also folded and sewn with a similar yarn. Stitches are 0.4 cm to 0.7 cm long and there is an overhand knot at one end. There are a few running stitches, using this same yarn, along one warp-wise edge of fragment B. The stitches are 0.3 cm to 0.6 cm long. A three strand brown yarn was used to attach fragment C and another row of the same yarn goes part of the way across fragment A. These stitches are 0.5 cm to 1 cm long and there is an overhand knot at one end. There is a z-twist light brown yarn caught at one corner of fragment A, possibly cotton?

Yarn #

12936.WA.01;12936.WE.01;12936.WE.02;12936.WE.03;12936.YN.01;12936.YN.02;12936.YN.03

Function

warp - all three;weft - all three;weft - all three;weft - twining;sewing - two hems of fragment A, warp-wise edge of fragment B;sewing - fragment A and attachment of C;yarn caught in corner of fragment A

Color

pale brown/gold (464);pale brown/gold (464);blue/black (433);pale brown/gold (464);off white/yellowed (OITH) with darker fibers blended in;light medium brown (USZO) with some lighter fibers blended in;dull yellow/orange, slightly pinkish (723)

Yarns/cm

10;42;42;;;;

Structure

single;single;single;3-ply;single, used doubled;single, used as three strand;single

Spin

s;s;s;sssZ;s;s;z

Twist Level

high;varies, med - low;varies, med - low;high;med;high;high

Fiber

wool;wool;wool;wool;wool;wool;cotton?

Type Category

Textile

Technical Details

Collection

Kelsey Museum of Archaeology Art & Artifact Collection

Image Size

2052 x 1576

File Size

228 KB

Record

0000.01.2936

Link to this Item

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/k/kelsey/x-0000.01.2936/0000_01_2936p02.tif content_copy

Related Links

IIIF

Manifest

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/kelsey:0000.01.2936:0000_01_2936P02.TIF content_copy