SKIN: resources and technologies

An understanding of subsistence and resource management is a prerequisite for a better understanding of past societies. A detailed study of craftsmanship and the properties of worked materials is equally important. The techniques applied in the processing of skin, leather and fur were not only very important in the past but also form the basis of modern crafting techniques. The interaction between these fundamental techniques and the societies using them is explored in detail in this project based on archaeological sources. The study of leather and related material is a specialist field of archaeology, whose potential has up to now barely been realised. In the project that is planned, artefacts will be examined that have been well preserved in the salt mines of Chehrabad, Iran (6th c. BC to 6st c. AD), and in the salt mine at the Dürrnberg, Austria (6th c. BC to 1st c. BC). In contrast, leather will also be investigated from two burial mounds of elite warriors (approximately 400 BC) from the superregional Celtic centre of Glauberg (Germany). The insights about leather technology that will be gained from the different sites, the different chronological and cultural contexts are directly comparable because of using a similar methodological approach and set of analytical tools. The results should illustrate the technical history of and the innovative power inherent in ancient societies in a diachronic perspective. There will also be a focus on resource management and the diverse use of collagenous materials. Following the identification of items made of internal hollow organs in the Dürrnberg salt mines, new questions arose, about the specialised production techniques and about the function of the items. The research on the unique dyed leather objects from Dürrnberg will lead to a better understanding of the techniques used to decorate leather in prehistory. The investigation of the pieces of clothing from the salt mummies of Chehrabad can be expected to make a significant contribution to costume history. The crown-like headdress from Glauberg provides another unique leather object to be studied. Its use is also documented on the extraordinary statue that was excavated near the monumental mound, the warrior wearing the headdress was buried below. To answer the research questions mentioned above, archaeological methods as well as typological and material analyses, analogies, experimental archaeology and archaeometric methods will be applied. Microscopic, chromatographic methods will be employed, also strontium isotope and aDNA analysis. These innovative aspects of this scientific project will allow new research perspectives for economic archaeology and cultural history.

Research into economic practices and the strategies used to procure raw materials is indispensable for understanding early societies. The recording of craft techniques and knowledge of material properties are also essential for this. Within the framework of the project carried out, technologies were researched that were used by societies from the Late Iron Age to Late Antiquity in the production and processing of animal hides. The study of leather and skins is a specialised subject in archaeology, as this group of finds is extremely rare in the archaeological record. An excellent preservation condition for this otherwise perishable material is found in the salt mines of Chehrbd in Iran (6th century BC to 6th century AD) and at Dürrnberg near Hallein in Austria (6th century to 1st century BC). It was used to make and repair headgear, capes, shoes, protective equipment, tools, bags, linings and containers for transporting salt. Analyses of raw materials show that at Dürrnberg almost all raw materials came from domestic animals, whereas at Chehrbd they were used exclusively. At the first site, cattle predominated, at the Iranian site sheep and goats. Investigations of a Sassanian sheep mummy (including aDNA analyses) made important contributions to the domestication of ovicaprids in the Near East and prove the deliberate use/breeding of milk/meat and wool sheep. Here, fat storage between individual skin layers were demonstrated for the first time on an archaeological find, a typical characteristic of domestic sheep. By comparing the object groups and raw materials, it was possible to show that the craftsmen at both sites had knowledge of specific material properties and used them consciously. The tendency to produce the same objects from the same raw materials using the same processes can be observed at both sites and testifies to a certain standardisation. The clothing of the mummified miners who died in mining accidents preserved in Chehrbd represents a singular source for research on the clothing of the respective epoch. The cut of the two Achaemenid cloaks from goatskin already shows an economical approach, since it was produced from two complete animal skins without cutting and loss of material. The miners of this era wore closed lace-up shoes made of goatskin using a reversible technique; shoes that were too large were adjusted with insoles. Conversely, a knee-high Sassanid boot with left-right distinction is too small for the wearer, as can be seen in the CT image. The wear marks on a unique mitten made of sheepskin indicate that it was used to protect the hands when working with ropes and the like.