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About

The Roman Textile Database is a digital corpus of archaeological textiles and the accompanying information about their context and archaeometric study.

It is an open-access platform, which digitizes and unites the extensive scientific archives of Roman textiles. It is designed as a tool for both research and preservation of data (in some cases of no longer extant textiles). In doing so, the Roman Textile Database lays the foundation for multi-scalar analysis of Roman textile production and will enable researchers to perform more complex spatial and statistical analyses of large sets of textiles to identify empire-wide chronological, geographical, fashion and social trends.

The current version comprises data on textile fragments. We plan to expand the database to include textile production tools and workshops. Contributions are welcome, please get in touch!

Map of the Roman Empire in 117 AD at its greatest extent, at the time of Trajan's death.
The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, at the time of Trajan's death in 117 CE (Image: Wikimedia user Tataryn, CC BY-SA 3.0 )
PROJECT

The RTDB is created as part of the multidisciplinary project ADigTex (Archaeology, Archaeometry, and Digitalisation of Ancient Textiles. From Pompeii to the Roman Empire, 2023–2025). 

The aim of the project is to create a platform for analysing Roman textile economy and technology by integrating data on fabrics, textile tools, and archaeological contexts. ADigTex involves two research units at the Universities of Sapienza and Padua.

The University of Padua team is responsible for creating the Roman Textile Database in collaboration with the colleagues from Rome and our international collaborators who have generously provided their archival data.

The Sapienza team focus on the local scale at high-resolution, through archaeological and archaeometric analysis of textiles and textile production at Pompeii, one of the best-preserved Roman sites in the Mediterranean. The results of this work will then be embedded in an Empire-wide context through the Roman Textile Database.

FUNDING

ADigTex (Archaeology, Archaeometry, and Digitalisation of Ancient Textiles. From Pompeii to the Roman Empire, 2023–2025, PRIN 2022 Prot. 20228SNZ2T) is funded by the Italian Ministry for Universities and Research.

TEAM
University of Padua Ass Prof Margarita Gleba (PI) Dr Bela Dimova
La Sapienza Prof Marco Galli (PI) Dr Francesca Colletti
 
CONTRIBUTORS AND PARTNERS

Dr John Peter Wild and Dr Felicity Wild

Prof Lise Bender Jørgensen

Dr Orit Shamir

Prof Maria Stella Busana