Added September 18, 1998. Updated October 29, 2007, 11:55 -6 GMT

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The oldest preserved textile from the Neolithic/Eneolithic in Central/Northern Europe

Version 3.01

A photo by Max Baldia, taken in June 1998, illustrates the carbonized fragments of Neolithic/Eneolithic textile from the Funnel Beaker culture. The textile was found in an earthen long-barrow or long-mound (Mound 2) in Central Moravia, Czech Republic. The non-megalithic mound is part of a group of long-mounds called Kremela I. The burial mounds is less than 1 km north of Rmíz u Laškov, which has the oldest stone-built rampart (ca. 3800 cal BC?) in North/Central Europe.

The textile exhibits extraordinarily fine craftsmanship. It probably dates to 3500±150 cal BC. However, no textile from this time period has as yet been radiocarbon dated.

The material was thought to be made of wool, but the fiber analysis by Dr. Kathryn Jakes by at The Ohio State University provides new surprises.

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References and credits

Baldia, Christel

2004 The Oldest Woven Textile of the Funnelbeaker Culture (4000-2900 cal BC) in North and Central Europe. In I. Jadin et al., Section 9: The Neolithic in the Near East and Europe; Section 10: The Copper Age in the Near East and Europe. Actes du XIVème Congrès UISPP, Universitè de Liège, Belgique, 2-8 Septembre 2001. BAR S1303, 2004:153-161, Archaeopress, Oxford.

Baldia, Maximilian O. and Christel Baldia

1998 Activity Report of the 1998 Czech-American Rmíz Research Project

Smíd, Miroslav

1990 Prispevek k poznání eneolitických mohylových pohrebišt' na strední Morave. Praveké a slovanské osídlení Moravy 1990:67-89, Brno.

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Related Links

Neolithic

Map of North and Central Europe

A Spatial Analysis of Megalithic Tombs

A Spatial Analysis of Megalithic Tombs: Bibliography

The Funnel Beaker Culture Chronology

Central and North European Chronology

Tomb C¹⁴ Dates
Neolithic/Copper Age Link Index

Ancient Textiles

• Ancient Textiles (Web site for Textile Science and Ancient Textiles)
• Clothing of the Bog People. Archaeology

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Please send comments or questions to Max Baldia.