Cloth worth a King’s Ransom: textile circulation and transmission of textile craft in the ancient Mediterranean

It has been argued that, within socially stratified societies of the Iron Age Europe, extensive and far-reaching networks were established between the aristocratic elites through mechanisms such as gift exchange and intermarriage. In the latter case, women served as a link between aristocratic families of different communities, creating powerful alliances between them – a situation not unlike the one lasting for many centuries between the royal families of medieval Europe. These networks were instrumental in movement of objects as well as transfer of techniques and fashions. Women were closely linked with cloth manufacturing activities and they certainly took with them their tools when moving far away from home. Textile equipment thus allows us to track their movements, as well as the diffusion of textile technology and fashion. This paper examines the Iron Age elite networks by considering evidence for ceremonial garments and their production and by discussing the role of elite women in transfer of technological knowledge involved in this craft.