Period: Late Mesolithic (4500 - 3900 BC)

Project title: An exploration of the use of tree bast fibres as a resource in the European Mesolithic - An experiment to assess the properties of elm (Ulmus spp) bast fibres in producing immediately usable fine threads, through a comparison of primary and secondary processing.

Researchers: Hannah Simons and Peter Groom, Archaeologists, England

Email: hana_makes_stuff(at)hotmail.com

Year: 2008

Research Problem:

A more accurate name for the people of the late Mesolithic area – who lived 6000 years ago - could be Gather-hunters, for there are many indications that the gathering of wild plants, was even more important than hunting! The Stone Age landscape offered an enormous range of raw materials, which were gathered and utilised for all the necessities of life. Everything that was needed was obtained in the wild. But what did the Stone Age people gather in?

From the late Mesolithic settlement Tybrind Vig, on the west coast of Fynen, a very special little pieces of world history is known – a fragment of a netted textile made of limebast. The fragment is the oldest known textile in Europe, and proves that techniques involved in processing fibres into string and textiles were used in the Stone Age. The fragment from Tybrind Vig has been interpreted as part of a netbag with a shoulder strap, which would be ideal for gathering plants. But which plants could be used for net, textile and even cloth? Aside from Lime bast, can other trees produces good fibres?

Conclusion:

This experiment comes from our ongoing research into the use of plant fibre resources in the north European Mesolithic, with a starting point in the Tybrind Vig textiles.

To obtain the best lime bast, the bast needs to be processed through retting for several weeks. It is our hypothesis that a more immediately usable fine fibre would have been required on a day to day basis for hunter – gatherers. With this in mind and given that elm is present in the pollen record of Tybrind Vig, we concentrated on elm.

Samples of elm bast were obtained at Lejre, and were placed to soak for different periods of time, daily observations were undertaken to monitor changes in the bast samples. All of the soaked samples were then air dried and their fibres were assessed for their suitability to create a fine spun thread, together with fresh bast samples obtained on the morning of the spinning experiments.

Our experiments found that any soaking of elm bast after three days appears to lessen its usability, whereas the fresh elm bast produces fine silk like threads that are very similar to the finest lime bast. The elm threads were tested against lime threads to gauge their breaking strains and lime proved stronger. However, the fact that fresh elm bast could provide such excellent and immediately useable fibres which required nothing more than primary processing, suggests to us that it would have been a most desirable resource to Mesolithic hunter – gatherers.

Reference number: HAF 09/08