ARCHIVE/MATERIAL: Strings to the past

Written by Dr. Susanna Harris, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, University of Glasgow

The string ceilidh was an opportunity to meet people who share a fascination with the practice and history of string. I am an archaeologist and I study ancient textiles, yarns, basketry and nets.

Edinbane String Ceilidh
(Credit J Gillies)

String, and its close relative yarn or thread, is one of the oldest technologies used by humans. This makes it important for archaeologists to understand the contribution of string to the way of life and change in materials over the millennia of human history. Made by twisting fibres together, string from plant fibre consists of extracting parts of stems, roots, leaves or seed bolls.

Given that plants are organic materials, there is little preserved evidence of ancient string. When found, it is usually physically fragile and chemically transformed through 1000s of years buried in wet soil or another stabilising environment. Archaeological scientists must be able to identify the plant species from these small, transformed remains.

To identify ancient plant materials, it is first necessary to characterise features of modern plant fibres from a range of species. To do this, archaeologists collect fibres from known plants and consult with collections in national herbariums, such as Kew Gardens, London or the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.

Plant fibre reference collection are examined scientifically, usually with a microscope. The characteristic features observed in the reference fibres are used to identify ancient fibres. For archaeologists, this is the principle of moving from the known to the unknown.

I brought my reference collection of plant fibres to the ceilidh. It includes fibres collected from crafts people and my own exploration of plant fibres from the natural world. References are kept in sealed plastic bags with a record of the plant species, where it was collected, and any known processing methods (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Fibre plant reference collection
(Credit S.Harris)

The string ceilidh was a wonderful opportunity to share knowledge with other string enthusiasts. We learn about the history of string on Skye and the practice of string making in Scotland through song, word and craft. I added several fibrous plants to my references collection including soft rush (Juncus effusus) and purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea) (Figure 2 & 3). The evening was a rich learning experience and a memorable occasion.