Contextualising textiles: using the Bolton Museum collection to explore social and international contexts of Egyptian Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age c

我们对埃及从新石器时代到青铜时代中期的技术变革和创新的认识和理解严重缺乏。对博尔顿博物馆出土的几乎未开发的纺织品收藏的研究，跨越了这个时间框架，将寻求解决古埃及技术研究中的这种不平衡。为了解决这一差距，我的项目有三个目标。首先，通过检查编织方法，对纤维进行微观研究和分析使用的染料来分析纺织技术的发展。其次，评估国际接触对纺织品生产、使用和意识形态的影响，并研究埃及在近东古代知识经济中的作用。第三，分析布料类型的社会文化背景和意义的发展，包括研究亚麻在早期木乃伊制作中的作用。为了实现这些目标，我将(1)研究、分析和策划从各种定居点和丧葬环境中挖掘出来的精选纺织品。这些将在博尔顿博物馆的新埃及画廊展出。(2)利用博尔顿博物馆和利物浦大学的保护设施，科学地确定布料生产中所用材料的来源和工艺。(3)对新石器时代至青铜时代中期出土纺织品的埃及定居点和墓葬遗址进行研究。然后将这些与博尔顿纺织品的原始社会文化背景进行比较。这项工作的部分成果将通过博尔顿博物馆的新埃及画廊及其在线目录传播这些发现。这项研究将首次为埃及从新石器时代到青铜时代中期的布料生产、发展和传播提供重要的证据，这将大大增加我们对埃及早在公元前5千年的技术变革和创新的认识。

Our knowledge and understanding of technological change and innovation from the Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age in Egypt is severely lacking. Examination of a virtually unexploited collection of excavated textiles from Bolton Museum, which span this time frame, will seek to address this imbalance in ancient Egyptian technological studies. In order to address this gap, the aims of my project are threefold. Firstly, to analyse the development of textile technology by examining weaving methods, undertaking microscopic study of fibres and analysing the dyes used. Secondly, to assess the impact of international contacts on the production, use and ideology of textiles and to examine Egypt's role in the ancient knowledge economy of the Near East. Thirdly, to analyse the development of the socio-cultural context and meanings of cloth types, including looking at the role of linen in early mummification.To achieve these aims I will (1) research, analyse and curate selected textiles from the collection, which have been excavated from various settlement and funerary contexts. These will then be prepared for display in the new Egyptian gallery at Bolton Museum. (2) Use the conservation facilities at Bolton Museum and Liverpool University to scientifically identify the origins of the materials and processes used in the production of the cloth. (3) Undertake research into current Egyptian settlement and funerary sites from the Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age where textiles have been excavated. These will then be compared with the original socio-cultural contexts of the textiles from Bolton. Part of the output from this work will be to disseminate the findings through the new Egyptian gallery at Bolton Museum and its online catalogue. This study will provide for the first time a significant corpus of evidence of cloth production, development and dissemination in Egypt from the Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age, which will significantly add to our knowledge of technological change and innovation in Egypt as far back as the 5th millennium BC.