Loom and Burials: Analysis of two textile production contexts from the pre-Roman settlement of Monte Sannace

In the Iapygian settlement located at Monte Sannace (Gioia del Colle, Bari), hundreds of loom weights and other textile tools have been found since 1994, during the archaeological excavations of the University of Bari. However, in the current state of studies, few contexts suggest that these objects were certainly designed for textile production. This paper proposes an analysis of two Hellenistic contexts (second half of the 4th century BC) located in insula III, in the lower residential area of the settlement. Both contexts share a high number of loom weights (40 in House III, 4 and 141 in House III, 6) and the unusual occurrence of contemporary adult burials, located in other rooms of the same house. Through the morphological and ponderal analysis of the loom weights and the application of the methodology developed by the Center for Textile Research of the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen, during the Tools and Textiles - Texts and Contexts research programme,1 this study aims to define the techniques of textile production. In the end, the research also discusses the close relationship between textile production, tombs and burial enclosures.