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Textiles

Significant findings have been made in the last 50 years at the Igbo-Ukwu site, especially in textiles. Samples from the British Museum have allowed for new studies of Igbo-Ukwu fabrics, including a scanning electron microscopy analysis of two fabric samples. This study found that the samples, which were uncovered in 1938 at the Igbo Isaiah compound, were woven with yarn that was 0.3-0.4mm in diameter and weave densities of both 24 warp and 16 weft/cm. These findings follow earlier studies by the Shirley Institute of samples found at the same site, provided by Charles Thurstan Shaw.

The textile samples recovered by Shaw in 1960 (the whereabouts of which are currently unknown) and those recovered by Isaiah Anozie in 1938 (which belong to the British Museum and are the subject of new analyses) were primarily found to be of two distinct fiber types: bast and leaf/grass. Bast fibers were overwhelmingly attributed to Ficus trees, and leaf/grass fibers were chiefly attributed to Raphia palms. The use of these fibers represents an old weaving tradition from the forest zone of Nigeria, and these materials have almost entirely been replaced by cotton and wool today. These textiles have been speculated to hold religious or spiritual significance, but ethnographic and archaeological evidence is sparse in regard to the meaning of forest zone textiles and tree bast fibers. Therefore, the spiritual significance of these textiles remains speculative.

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating was performed on one textile sample from Igbo Isaiah, placing the date of textile creation in the 1200-1300s CE. This is the first direct date obtained for an artifact from Igbo Isaiah, and it contrasts with the ninth-century CE date previously offered by Shaw on the basis of less precise radiocarbon results and stylistic seriation performed on pottery and bronzes from Igbo-Ukwu.