In the past, textile production was a key part of all ancient societies. The Ancient Near East stands out in this respect with the overwhelming amount of documentation both in terms of raw materials, line of production, and the distribution of finished products. The thirteen intriguing chapters inTextile Production and Consumption in the Ancient Near East describe the developments and changes from household to standardised, industrialised and centralised productions which take place in the region. They discuss the economic, social and cultural impact of textiles on ancient society through the application of textile tool studies, experimental testing, context studies and epigraphical as well as iconographical sources. Together they demonstrate that the textile industries, production, technology, consumption and innovations are crucial to, and therefore provide an in-depth view of ancient societies during this period. Geographically the contributions cover Anatolia, the Levant, Syria, the Assyrian heartland, Sumer, and Egypt.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction: Archaeology, Epigraphy, Iconography
• Chapter 1: Functions and Uses of Textiles in the Ancient Near East. Summary and Perspectives
• Chapter 2: The Emergence of the Ghassulian Textile Industry in the Southern Levant Chalcolithic Period (c. 4500–3900 BCE)
• Chapter 3: Textile Production in Palatial and Non-Palatial Contexts: the Case of Tel Kabri
• Chapter 4: Textiles, Value, and the Early Economies of North Syria and Anatolia
• Chapter 5: Technology and Palace Economy in Middle Bronze Age Anatolia: the Case of the Crescent Shaped Loom Weight
• Chapter 6: Her Share of the Profits: Women, Agency, and Textile Production at Kültepe/Kanesh in the Early Second Millennium BC
• Chapter 7: Visualising Ancient Textiles – how to make a Textile Visible on the Basis of an Interpretation of an Ur III Text
• Chapter 8: The Costumes of Inanna/Ishtar
• Chapter 9: Considering the Finishing of Textiles based on Neo-Sumerian Inscriptions from Girsu
• Chapter 10: Tapestries in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages of the Ancient Near East
• Chapter 11: Spinning from old Threads: The Whorls from Ugarit at the Musée d’Archéologie Nationale (Saint-Germain-en-Laye) and at the Louvre
• Chapter 12: Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater: Innovations in Mediterranean Textile Production at the End of the 2nd/Beginning of the 1st Millennium BCE
• Chapter 13: Textile Production and Consumption in the Neo-Assyrian Empire