Bronze Age textile evidence in ceramic impressions: Weaving and pottery technology among mobile pastoralists of central Eurasia

Textiles are powerful indicators of technology and contact, as the authors showfor the peoples of the Bronze Age central Asian steppes. In this case the textiles are mainly missing, but have left their imprints on the surface of the inside of pots, captured when otherwise redundant cloths were used to paddle or jacket the clay before hardening and firing. A good supply of old cloths seems to have been part of a potters' equipment and some were used several times. The authors analyse and date the fibres and weaves to give an indication of changing cultural context through the Bronze Age.