First part of a survey of clothing in the north-western provinces of the Roman Empire.
One side of an argument about the origin, local or imported, of some types of clothing found in Roman Iron Age contexts in Germania Magna beyond the Roman frontiers. This paper minimises the extent of Roman exports to the North,... more
One side of an argument about the origin, local or imported, of some types of clothing found in Roman Iron Age contexts in Germania Magna beyond the Roman frontiers. This paper minimises the extent of Roman exports to the North, preferring instead to regard the diamond twill cloaks et sim as locally produced.
Discusses the meaning of the Latin term COLORATOR (which has nothing to do with dyeing)
Reviews the visual evidence for the character of the Roman loom as it is represented in the iconography of the western Roman Empire
Publication of a rare leather sling of probably Trajanic date from the east ditch of the Roman fort at Melandra, Glossop, Derbyshire.
Discusses a rare Roman-period wool damask tunic from Egypt and its context, with Daniel De Jonghe
A review of the content and importance of the corpus of some 650 wool textiles from the Roman fort of Vindolanda near Hadrians Wall. They date to a few years before and after AD 100, and diamond twill weave dominates.
Argues that textile production, at least in the western Roman provinces, was a standard agricultural activity in which farmers added value to a product (wool) for onward sale, including at the farm gate.
Written with F C Wild, the paper is an interim report on the Roman textiles found at the port of Berenike, Red Sea coast of Egypt in the 1998 season.
Discusses the information on textiles that can be won from Roman written sources, and the pitfalls in such investigations (Quellenkritik)
Written with F.C.Wild, an interim account of the Roman textiles found at the Roman port of Berenike, Red Sea coast of Egypt, in the 1999-2000 season.
Discusses a number of cases where passages in ancient sources, including papyri from Egypt, give sufficient numerical information to raise economic questions. The question of the textile output of Oxyrhynchus is raised and the figures... more
Discusses a number of cases where passages in ancient sources, including papyri from Egypt, give sufficient numerical information to raise economic questions. The question of the textile output of Oxyrhynchus is raised and the figures extrapolated by van Minnen are queried.
J.P. and F.C.Wild discuss the Roman-period finds of cotton textiles from Early Historic India imported into the Roman port of Berenike by sailors engaged in the red Sea trade between the Roman Empire and India.
Article brings together recent research by J.P. and F.C.Wild and A.J.Clapham on finds of Roman cotton and cotton textiles in Egypt.
Discussion of a small group of cotton pile sleeping mats ('carpets') at Berenike on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. Dating to the first century AD, they are imports from India brought by sailors manning the ships engaged in trade on the Red... more
Discussion of a small group of cotton pile sleeping mats ('carpets') at Berenike on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. Dating to the first century AD, they are imports from India brought by sailors manning the ships engaged in trade on the Red Sea between the Roman Empire and India.
Having attempted to define the groups in Roman society who could afford 'luxury goods' the article examines instances of clothing, particularly in late Roman graves, which consist of or contain silk, purple wool tapestry woven decoration... more
Having attempted to define the groups in Roman society who could afford 'luxury goods' the article examines instances of clothing, particularly in late Roman graves, which consist of or contain silk, purple wool tapestry woven decoration and gold thread. Finds are commoner than one might expect.
The article examines the types of animal fibre listed in Chapter XXV 'On Wool' in Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices (AD 301). Wool from the leading sheep-rearing regions, the fibres from the mussel pinna nobilis, wool from rabbit or... more
The article examines the types of animal fibre listed in Chapter XXV 'On Wool' in Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices (AD 301). Wool from the leading sheep-rearing regions, the fibres from the mussel pinna nobilis, wool from rabbit or hare and-more controversially-'cashmere' from 'Aria' all figure in Chapter XXV and are considered here from an archaeological perspective.
A comprehensive study of all elements in the textile industry of Roman Britain including its economy. Updates Wild 1970 Textile Manufacture.
A heddle made of cotton string, once mounted on a short heddle rod, for making narrow fabrics. Early fifth century AD, from Qasr Ibrim in Lower Nubia. In A.De Moor, C.Fluck, P.Linscheid, Tools and Techniques of the 1st Millennium AD,... more
A heddle made of cotton string, once mounted on a short heddle rod, for making narrow fabrics. Early fifth century AD, from Qasr Ibrim in Lower Nubia. In A.De Moor, C.Fluck, P.Linscheid, Tools and Techniques of the 1st Millennium AD, Tielt, 2015, 142-146
Personal bibliography for John Peter Wild from 1963 to the present.
Discusses the regular association of purple wool and gold thread in decorative tapestry inserts in silk clothing and textiles in the Roman western provinces.
'Through Roman eyes: cotton textiles from Early Historic India' in S.Bergerbrant, S.H.Fossoy, A Stitch in Time: Essays in Honour of Lise Bender Jorgensen, Gothenburg 2014, 209-235 A review of the range of cotton textiles produced in... more
'Through Roman eyes: cotton textiles from Early Historic India' in S.Bergerbrant, S.H.Fossoy, A Stitch in Time: Essays in Honour of Lise Bender Jorgensen, Gothenburg 2014, 209-235
A review of the range of cotton textiles produced in India and shipped to Berenike on the Red Sea coast of Egypt in the Roman period.
A review of the range of cotton textiles produced in India and shipped to Berenike on the Red Sea coast of Egypt in the Roman period.
Study of a group of heavy knotted pile carpets from Roman port of Berenike, Read Sea Coast of Egypt, woven in India in early first century AD
Discusses survival of Iron Age textile traditions into the Roman period in Britain.
The authors argue that ars polymita is the art of weaving weft-faced compound tabby (taquete) on an ancient version of the Iranian vertical zilu-loom and ars plumaria is the art of weaving Gobelin-style tapestry. They rest their case on a... more
The authors argue that ars polymita is the art of weaving weft-faced compound tabby (taquete) on an ancient version of the Iranian vertical zilu-loom and ars plumaria is the art of weaving Gobelin-style tapestry. They rest their case on a combination of Roman literary and papyrological sources and contemporary archaeological finds.
Research Interests:
Description of two small fragments of textile associated with the Roman fort at Xanten on the Lower Rhine.
The Latin term pexa (soft-finished) was borrowed into Insular Celtic in the Roman period and becomes the standard Early and Middle Welsh for 'shirt'. This means that the technique for nap-raising on wool cloth was practised in Roman... more
The Latin term pexa (soft-finished) was borrowed into Insular Celtic in the Roman period and becomes the standard Early and Middle Welsh for 'shirt'. This means that the technique for nap-raising on wool cloth was practised in Roman Britain.
A partially preserved bone rigid heddle of Roman date from South Shields Roman fort or its vicus.
Brief report on an early fourth century potter's workshop building, two well preserved associated kilns, well, pit, water heaps - a classic establishment for the Lower Nene Valley pottery industry.
Description of a linen fabric associated with a Roman coin hoard
An account of the Roman villas in the Lower and Middle Nene Valley near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
An account of a Roman copper-alloy temple claw, with a note on the type.
Brief account of Roman wool textiles from Castleford, Yorkshire
Research Interests:
Between the extremes of inhumation burial in a shroud or wrappings and burial fully clothed but unwrapped lies a spectrum of possibilities which digging archaeologists should bear in mind when in the field, even if no textile material... more
Between the extremes of inhumation burial in a shroud or wrappings and burial fully clothed but unwrapped lies a spectrum of possibilities which digging archaeologists should bear in mind when in the field, even if no textile material survives.
Discusses a leather artefact from Melandra Roman fort, Glossop, Derbyshire, and interprets it as a sling
Brief review with drawings of the pictorial evidence for the form of the loom in the western Roman provinces
In an exchange of views with L Bender Joergensen, the author argues that the distribution of diamond twill textiles in N Europe inside and outside the Roman Empire reflects a late Iron Age textile tradition and is not evidence for Roman... more
In an exchange of views with L Bender Joergensen, the author argues that the distribution of diamond twill textiles in N Europe inside and outside the Roman Empire reflects a late Iron Age textile tradition and is not evidence for Roman export of clothing in diamond twill to Germania Magna.
Defends the proposed neuter form of the Latin substantive titulum or titulus (the short ditch and bank protecting some Roman military camp gateways) against assertions that titulus, masculine, is the correct form
Discusses the archaeological (tools etc) and written evidence for sheep types, wool production and wool processing in Roman Britain.
Describes and discusses the linen textiles with transverse borders found on the later Roman mummy no 1770 in the Manchester Museum
Discusses the proposal of the Anonymus de Rebus Bellicis to dress Late Roman soldiers in a felt tunic, capable of resisting arrows, and offering a cheaper alternative to conventional armour
Lemmata: brandea, chlamys, curtain, dress: barbarian, dress: Roman and post-Roman, dress: Roman, civilian, official, dress: Roman, military, gynaeceum, orarium, segmenta, silk and silk trade, textiles and textile manufacture . Text of... more
Lemmata: brandea, chlamys, curtain, dress: barbarian, dress: Roman and post-Roman, dress: Roman, civilian, official, dress: Roman, military, gynaeceum, orarium, segmenta, silk and silk trade, textiles and textile manufacture .
Text of entries as originally submitted to Editor of ODLA (before ODLA redaction)
Text of entries as originally submitted to Editor of ODLA (before ODLA redaction)
A compendium of interim reports written at the end of each (annual or biennial) summer excavation season investigating the defences, principia, external bath building and vicus of the Roman fort at Melandra, Glossop, Derbyshire.