Among so many Greek archaeological finds, there are also those that, until recently, did not have much significance: the excavation of fabrics. A few specimens have been found that are rarely kept in good condition and do not provide much information. They are also purely funerary in nature, as the copper urns in which they were kept protected them for centuries. However, such a linen funeral cloth, dated to the 5th c. BC. century, which was excavated in the 80s and buried in their warehouses National Archaeological Museumcan provide useful information about your time.

“This is specifically a folded volume of various linen fabrics, on which traces of embroidery or other decoration are visible, with another thread, possibly wool, which has not survived.” says Dr. Christina Margariti “K”., Head of the Department of Applied Research of the Department of Conservation of Ancient and Modern Monuments of the Ministry of Culture. The find was discovered by archaeologist Elena Papastavrou during the rescue excavation of the then Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities KS6 on Tivon Street and was used to wrap the bones of a deceased person after cremation, which were placed in a copper urn. “This is the only embroidered fabric dating back to the 5th century BC. age that we have in Greece, explains “K”. “But they are of the same period, which have traces of embroidery, found as a result of secret excavations in 1957 and are in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.”

The importance of fabric lies not only in its quantity and good condition, but also in its decoration. It consists of floral and geometric motifs, and its very existence is of value, as burial clothes are rarely decorated. “It is also important,” continues the restorer, “that it be rolled up. It is still in the form in which it was placed in the urn. It may not be of any archaeological interest, but it may mean something.”

“This is the only embroidered fabric dating back to the 5th century BC. century that we have in Greece,” says Dr. Christina Margariti.

Technology contributes in many ways to answering these questions. There is, for example, a CT scanner through which tissue was passed to accurately determine its contents. There is also digital unwrapping, which ensures that its state is not broken. The conservation study, approved yesterday by the Central Archaeological Council, will follow a middle path that will use digital tools as well as careful physical deployment of loose tissue pieces.

Renewed interest

The very history of its revival confirms the renewed interest in excavated textiles in Greece and the European Union, where the latter created the Euroweb project, in which the Ministry of Culture participates. Moreover, when Christina Margariti informed the Ephorate of Antiquities of Piraeus and the Islands (the successor of KSΦ EPKA) two years ago about her research on textiles, the head of the conservation department of Ephorate Aikaterini Panagopoulou identified several more, better preserved, “brothers” of his unit, which were transferred to the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus and which are expected to be merged with part of the EAM.

Ms. Margaritis was aware of the existence of the last of her doctoral dissertations on the conservation of the excavated textiles, and when she began to deal with it carefully, she discovered that it had been placed in the EAM warehouses to be maintained by specialized textile personnel, who, however, did not existed. To determine its exact location, archaeologist Elena Papastavrou helped. “She herself went to the warehouses,” she tells us, “and found him. Because he remembered it.”