This pioneering work revises our notions of the origins and early development of textiles in Europe and the Near East. Using innovative linguistic techniques, along with methods from palaeobiology and other fields, it shows that spinning and pattern weaving began far earlier than has been supposed.
 Prehistoric Textiles made an unsurpassed leap in the social and cultural understanding of textiles in humankind's early history. Cloth making was an industry that consumed more time and effort, and was more culturally significant to prehistoric cultures, than anyone assumed before the book's publication. The textile industry is in fact older than pottery--and perhaps even older than agriculture and stockbreeding. It probably consumed far more hours of labor per year, in temperate climates, than did pottery and food production put together. And this work was done primarily by women. Up until the Industrial Revolution, and into this century in many peasant societies, women spent every available moment spinning, weaving, and sewing.
 The author, Elizabeth Wayland Barber, demonstrates command of an almost unbelievably disparate array of disciplines--from historical linguistics to archaeology and paleobiology, from art history to the practical art of weaving. Her passionate interest in the subject matter leaps out on every page. Barber, a professor of linguistics and archaeology, developed expert sewing and weaving skills as a small girl under her mother's tutelage. One could say she had been born and raised to write this book.
 Because modern textiles are almost entirely made by machines, we have difficulty appreciating how time-consuming and important the premodern textile industry was. This book opens our eyes to this crucial area of prehistoric human culture.

Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean

Arts & Photography

E.J.W. Barber

History & Criticism

Princeton University Press

STUDIES IN IRISH SAGA AND CELTIC MYTH; The Hero: Late If Not Last Thoughts-Dean Miller. From Protected to Protector: Some Legal Language in Cú Chulainn's Boyhood Deeds-Colin Ireland. Extraordinary Beings in Chrétien de Troyes and their Celtic Analogs-William Sayers. Láeg's Line: A Route for the Gods?-Richard B. Warner. With One Hand Tied behind his Back: Exploring the Iconography of Single-handed Single Combats-Paula Powers Coe. STUDIES IN NORTHWESTERN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES; Dialect and Language Contact in Emerging Germanic-Benjamin Frey and Joseph Salmons. Taking a Position in Latin-Philip Baldi and Pierluigi Cuzzolin. AEGEAN-ANATOLIAN STUDIES; The Cities of Kumme, Kummanna and their God Tesˇsˇub / Tei sˇeba-Armen Petrosyan. A Preliminary Note on Application of Functional Markings to the Scenes Depicted on the Chest of Kypselos-Chris Lynn. Homeric péploς and Hittite palah˘ sˇa sˇ-Jaan Puhvel. OUT OF ASIA; Hobbyhorses-E.J.W. Barber. Substrate Continuity in Indo-European Religion and Iconography: Seals and Figurines of the Indus Valley-Culture and Historic Indic Female Figures-Miriam Robbins Dexter. The Da¯sas of the R°gveda as Proto-Sakas of the Yaz I-related Cultures-With a revised model for the protohistory of Indo-Iranian speakers-Asko Parpola. The Earliest Identifiable Written Chinese Character-Victor H. Mair. TECHNOLOGY; Some Observations on the Development of Indo-European Metallurgy-Martin E. Huld. Publications of J.P. Mallory.

Archaeology and Language: Indo-European Studies Presented to James P. Mallory (The Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph Series)

Politics & Social Sciences

Jaan Puhvel

Miriam Robbins Dexter

Colin Ireland

William Sayers

Richard B. Warner

Paula Powers Coe

Benjamin Frey and Joseph Salmons

Chris Lynn

Armen Petrosyan

Archaeology

The Institute for the Study of Man

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Books by E.J.W. Barber