Visible traces of social interaction on Indo-Egyptian textiles from medieval Islamic Quseir al-Qadim, Egypt

This thesis researches the visual traces left behind by people on Indo-Egyptian textiles that have been excavated in medieval Islamic Quseir al-Qadim in Egypt. These textiles have been previously researched in the forms of a technical analysis on the Quseir al-Qadim textiles specifically and C-14 dating on a collection of Indo-Egyptian textiles from the Ashmolean Museum. This research is expanded upon in this thesis by looking at visible traces in the form of stitching on the textiles and the torn edges of the textiles. These stitches were used as a way to expand the size of the textile and as a way to mend holes and tears that formed in the textile through use. Expanding the size is a social interaction as it was a conscious decision to expand the fabric size to fit a certain size used for creating an object. The act of mending has socialisation in two parts however, the first part where an action or continues actions led to the tear of hole, and the second part where this tear or...Show moreThis thesis researches the visual traces left behind by people on Indo-Egyptian textiles that have been excavated in medieval Islamic Quseir al-Qadim in Egypt. These textiles have been previously researched in the forms of a technical analysis on the Quseir al-Qadim textiles specifically and C-14 dating on a collection of Indo-Egyptian textiles from the Ashmolean Museum. This research is expanded upon in this thesis by looking at visible traces in the form of stitching on the textiles and the torn edges of the textiles. These stitches were used as a way to expand the size of the textile and as a way to mend holes and tears that formed in the textile through use. Expanding the size is a social interaction as it was a conscious decision to expand the fabric size to fit a certain size used for creating an object. The act of mending has socialisation in two parts however, the first part where an action or continues actions led to the tear of hole, and the second part where this tear or hole was mended. The second type of social interaction with the fabric is through the edges. The edges were torn deliberately as the edge follows a weft or warp thread very neatly, as well as coming together in a 90 degree angle in some cases. The reason for this is unknown as it is not possible to determine at what stage this modification happened, if it was the final stage of its use, or if it was torn that way specifically to be discarded. These conclusions are accompanied by a life biography written about one of the textiles which goes over the entire life with a specific focus on all of the social interactions the textile may have had with the people who were involved with it at one point.Show less

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Visible traces of social interaction on Indo-Egyptian textiles from medieval Islamic Quseir al-Qadim, Egypt