Site Qasr Ibrim Context QI98 18010 Excavation year 1998

Dimensions L. 710 mm W. 430 mm Preservation state organic Object type garment - tabard Fabric structure tabby Warp and weft identified ✓

Borders Blue bobble fringes at both warp ends. Bobble structure: rows of bobbles. The blue yarn of each bobble is S spun, c.1mm thick and has an undyed core, i.e. hank dyed. It was wrapped round a projecting pair of warp threads and must have extended to wrapping the 2nd pair of projecting warp ends (see diagram). The two projecting warp pairs are knotted at the outside so that the blue yarn wraps, as it were, a loop and is held tight against the outer plait line. As the wrapped coil wears, the blue yarns are worn and a speckled blue/undyed effect is created. The finished bobble is c.4-5mm wide and projects 4-5mm from the plait/web. When the blue wrapping is worn right through at the outside, it gives a brush effect either side of the loop, which is visible in 0999 (where it could have been cut rather than worn). No sign that blue thread leaped from bobble to bobble. At best end, 70 bobbles present, at least 9 missing. At badly preserved end, 77 present, c.4 missing. Structure of bobble fringe: taking Bergman B5 as basis (plait structure in 1341 is visually identical to Bergman B5 and almost certainly the same), the bobbles can be seen through demolition of structure to be made from 2 adjacent pairs of warp ends which both work into plait and both exit from main web next to one another. No sign, or need for, any direct anchor out of web concealed within plait, as suggested in 2008. Width of plait in 1341: 2mm. Last weft shot before plait an ordinary single. Edges Plain selvedge at both edges. Selvedge type simple Other features Weft c.6 per cm, spaced, but adjacent to bobbles much tighter, c.24 per cm for distance of c.10mm at both ends. Neck hole centred c.330mm from better preserved bobble end. Neck hole c.230mm across, weft direction. One side of garment better preserved than the other: other side screwed up and concreted as well as partly missing. Large hole, c.150mm x 100mm in better preserved section. Otherwise, both sides appear identical, with no indication of which was front or back. Neck aperture: presumably cut and edge piped with standard type of inner and outer piping in blue. Finished off with reinforced projections at ends. Neck aperture is still rounded at better preserved side, presumably caused by wear (i.e. front of garment?) Piping around neck hole all present. Width between tying off of neck piping and selvedge at better side: 80mm (selvedge to inside of aperture). Neck aperture 490mm in circumference.

Description Running stitch with two visible loose ends (see drawing) 100mm from bobble row on one side (of better end). Yarn 2 ply Z plied S spun undyed cotton, c.1mm thick. No surviving traces elsewhere. Piping: heavily concreted and rigid, but present throughout. Structure seems to be standard (see drawing of 0645 for basics). No deviation visible. Piping rows 2mm diam. Total width of piped edge including piping and rolled hem in between, 8mm. At end A of the aperture (see drawing), the two external piping lines converge and are held down to the cloth with two ‘stitches’ which are afterwards tied off at the tip of this projecting reinforcement. The inner piping appears to continue underneath the reinforcement. Length of projection 18mm. At end B, the inner piping comes together on the inside of the cloth, passes back to the upper side over the outer piping and is held by two ‘stitches’ and tied off in a knot. Length of projection 20mm. The ‘stitches’ are slightly browner than the blue piping and could be separate thread – or wear. The fastening off of the ends was sufficiently strong that neither has torn out in wear. Types of stitch running stitch Sewing yarn structure plied Sewing yarn twist direction Z2s Sewing yarn diam 1.0