EMAP_2012_Report_6_1.pdf (7.3 MB) - The Heritage Council

together with the definite evidence for tablet weaving, offers a degree of mobility/flexibility in
the location of these crafts, which again might minimise the evidence found on settlements.
Contexts of textile-working
It is possible that activities such as spinning and weaving were undertaken within or
immediately adjacent to domestic structures, as these tasks were clean and relatively
odourless. In contrast, it has been suggested that as dye-production was a dirty process, it
was probably located in the industrial quarters away from the domestic area (Comber 2008,
108). However, it is interesting in this regard that one of the sites with evidence for dogwhelk
dyes, Dooey, also had evidence for spinning, weaving and sewing on site. Deer Park
Farms (with evidence for woad plants) also showed evidence for textile production from initial
processing to finishing stages.
Proudfoot (1961) argued that weaving was an important element in the economy, but
Comber (2008, 110) has queried this, arguing that the evidence instead suggests that not all
sites were engaged in these activities, with only a select number supplying textiles to other
sites in the early medieval period. This would appear to be borne out by the examination
above, but further work is needed at the local level to identify particular networks of
production and supply.
In some instances where tools of textile working have been found in cemeteries or burials,
these may not indicate actual crafts carried at the site, but rather grave goods consisting of
the personal possessions of those interred there. Examples of this include Cloghermore Cave,
Co. Kerry, where spindle whorls were included among apparent grave goods and also with
pyre remains (Connolly et al. 2005) and Ratoath, where a needle was found in a juvenile’s
burial (Wallace 2010, 305); broader examples of such finds from cemeteries, but not directly
associated with individual burials, include Cloncowan II (Baker 2007, 71, 128-9). While such
cases may be of use in looking at the gender of craftworkers, or indicating a person’s
perceived social role and the importance of this particular aspect of their life and work, it is
more difficult to link them specifically with textile working in the immediate area.
Dyestuffs
The production of dye could also be regarded as evidence relating to cloth manufacture,
although the activities need not have taken place on the same site. The early texts provide
information about bleaching and dyeing and indicate that the juices of plants such as
blackberries or lichens may have been used in this process. One plant source mentioned
several times in the texts is woad, which provides both blue and pink dyes; the laws indicate
that women were responsible for the processing of woad (Kelly 1997, 266), and its status
may be implied by the reference to the queen of Tara owning a garden of woad plants (Kelly
1997, 265). The texts also suggest that there were taboos against the presence of men
during this process, confirming that textile production was strongly the task of women in
early Irish society (Kelly 1997, 449-50). Of 317 sites in the gazetteer, however, just five
provided evidence of the presence (and presumably processing) of materials used as
dyestuffs, namely dog-whelk (Dooey, Doonlaughan and Rathgurreen), woad (Deer Park
Farms) and madder (Boho); many dyes obtained from vegetation would not, however, leave
recognisable evidence. Madder seeds were found at Boho (Morrison 1953, 53-4); traces of
cultivated madder were found in an E-ware pot from Teeshan crannóg (Ó Ríordáin 1979, 30);
and woad pods were discovered at Deer Park Farms (Lynn 1989, 197).
Much of the evidence for dyestuffs comes primarily from coastal sites, and involves a species
of shellfish known as dog-whelk (Nucella lapillus); this species contains a liquid which, when
exposed to the sun, turns purplish-red (Edwards 1990, 82). Several shellmidden sites at
Doonloughan (McCormick and Murray 1997), Dog’s Bay, Roundstone (O'Rourke 1945, 117)
and Culfin, Lettergesh, Co. Galway (McCormick and Murray 2006), as well as Dooey (Ó
Ríordáin and Rynne 1961, 61), and various settlement enclosures such as Raheens II
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