Ancient Egyptian wool fragment from Karanis dated 30 BC – AD 395

A fragment of a woollen fabric woven in the form of the trunk and legs of a human figure. Yellow ground embroidered with bands of red and blue at ankles, blue with self colour embroidery round girdle, two round spots in blue, with self coloured wool stitches, possibly representing breast coverings. There is a blue belt embroidered in self coloured wool just above. There are two narrow blue lines above the belt and a red line at the top of the weave. There is fringing at the bottom and top.

Object details

  • Reference: BOLMG:1930.19.6
  • Material: wool
  • Period: Roman Period
  • Excavator: Joseph Starkey
  • Dated: 30 BC - AD 395
  • Object name: wool fragment
  • Dimensions: Length: 204mm , Width: 85mm
  • Published references: Jane C Batcheller Late Roman Textiles from Karanis Egypt an investigation into the characterization of archaeological textiles PhD thesis Manchester University 2002 cat 208
  • Site: Karanis
  • Latitude: 29.517778
  • Longitude: 30.903333