Residues of Activities: Towards an Analytical Protocol for Studying Residues on Textile Tools

Textiles are relatively rare in archaeological contexts. Specific environmental conditions and post-depositional processes can favour their preservation, providing evidence of their production and consumption. Spinning and weaving are commonly testified by tools and, according to experimental studies, evidence of textile activities can preserve even in the form of organic residues (e.g. fibre and wood) on tool surfaces along with modifications of the original tools in the form of wear. On this basis, the present contribution proposes a research protocol for studying the use of textile tools through the analysis of residues of spinning, highlighting the potential and limits of this approach. Although some scholars have applied use-wear analysis, residue analysis still needs to be explored to investigate textile tools actual use and the development of dedicated protocols for extraction and analysis is needed. The method of analysing textile tools presented here integrates observation techniques at different magnifications applied to experimental replicas and archaeological spindle-whorls to assess the state of residue preservation and identify the type of preserved fibres.