Tracing Checked Cloth in Prehistoric Europe in the First Millennium BC

In this paper, we attempt to trace checks and ‘tartan-like’ patterns in prehistoric Mediterranean, Central and Northern Europe, the techniques in which they were created, and their possible significance. Key finds come from burials, salt mines and bogs in Italy, Austria and Scandinavia, and span in date the 1st millennium BC. Checked pattern could be created in a variety of different ways, utilising the colour (natural wool shades and dyes), spinning and weaving techniques. The resulting types of patterns include block checks, grid checks, houndstooth patterns, and tartan-like designs. Most of the checked textiles are twills. The checked patterning is compared to other design principles known in the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East, where no twills have been securely identified to date. The checked twills from China are considered in the context of checked twill development and spread across Eurasia.