ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Flax processing in the Neolithic and Bronze Age pile-dwellingsettlements of eastern Switzerland

Urs Leuzinger • Antoinette Rast-Eicher

Received: 27 May 2010 / Accepted: 25 February 2011

� Springer-Verlag 2011

Abstract Numerous artefacts from the area of textile

production as well as finished products, fabrics and netting,

dating from the period between 3900 and 800 B.C. have

survived in the archaeological layers of late Neolithic and

Bronze Age wetland settlements in eastern Switzerland.

Archaeological investigations, experiments in textile tech-

nology and comparisons with Egyptian wall paintings, as

well as analyses under the scanning electron microscope,

allow us to almost completely reconstruct Neolithic textile

production in prehistoric pile dwellings.

Keywords Neolithic � Pile dwellings � Textiles � Flax �Scanning electron microscope � Switzerland

Introduction

This article discusses the processes involved in Neolithic

flax production, with respect both to cultivation and fibre

processing, from the region of what is today eastern

Switzerland between Bodensee (Lake Constance) and

Zurichsee—with a particular emphasis on the Cantons of

Thurgau and Zurich.

Pile dwellings from the Neolithic period and the Bronze

Age are found throughout the circum-Alpine area on lake-

shores and in bogs. More than 450 sites dating from the

period between 4300 and 800 B.C. have been discovered in

Switzerland alone (Suter and Schlichtherle 2009). The

prehistoric wetland settlements in eastern Switzerland—

among them well-known sites such as Arbon-Bleiche

3, Feldmeilen-Vorderfeld, Gachnang/Niederwil-Egelsee,

Greifensee-Boschen, Horgen-Dampfschiffsteg, Maur-Schiff-

lande, Meilen-Roorenhab, Pfyn-Breitenloo, Steckborn-

Turgi, Urschhausen-Horn, Wetzikon-Robenhausen and

Zurich-Alpenquai (Fig. 1)—are particularly worth men-

tioning due to the excellent preservation conditions for

organic materials (Natter and Schlichtherle 2009). The

remains of timber-built houses, countless seeds and fruits,

wooden implements and rare fragments of weaves and

fabrics made of Linum usitatissimum L. (linen) and tree bast

have been excellently preserved for millennia in the

waterlogged archaeological layers (Rast-Eicher 1997).

Moreover, thanks to dendrochronology, construction tim-

bers such as posts, poles and boards from the Neolithic and

Bronze Age houses can often be precisely dated, which

means that the chronological position of the individual

archaeological finds can be firmly established.

A significant amount of textiles has been, and continues

to be, found in almost every lakeside dwelling thanks to the

excellent preservation conditions (Bazzanelle et al. 2003;

Rast-Eicher 1997; Rast-Eicher and Dietrich forthcoming).

These textiles give exceptional insight into early textile

production. The quality of the fabrics was very good, flax

fibre processing having been based on thousands of years

of experience of using tree bast fibres. The new samples—

after a first example from Risch (Canton of Zug)—have

been chosen from sites with exceptional preservation of

fine threads: Zurich-Breitingerstrasse, Zurich-Mythenschloss

and Greifensee-Boschen. Further Bronze Age comparison

material was provided from the salt-mines of Hallstatt,

Austria.

Communicated by S. Karg.

U. Leuzinger (&)

Amt fur Archaologie Thurgau, Schlossmuhlestrasse 15a,

8510 Frauenfeld, Switzerland

e-mail: urs.leuzinger@tg.ch

A. Rast-Eicher

Buro fur archaologische Textilien, 8755 Ennenda, Switzerland

123

Veget Hist Archaeobot

DOI 10.1007/s00334-011-0286-2

Fibre analysis by means of scanning electron micro-

scopy (SEM) has made it possible to analyse carbonized

material, which is almost impossible with light micro-

scopy. The SEM images give a three-dimensional view of

the fibres and, besides aiding identification, also allow us to

take a closer look at fibre processing and thread production.

Only unconserved material can be used for this kind of

analysis, as materials used in conservation very often cover

the surfaces.

Materials and methods

Flax processing illustrated by selected archaeological

finds

In order to gather as much information as possible on Neo-

lithic textile production, archaeologists work in close

cooperation with palynologists, botanists, conservationists

and textile specialists. This interdisciplinary research allows

us to answer numerous questions with regard to early textile

crafts. Experimental archaeology offers other significant

insights into the processing of plant fibres at the time. During

the excavation, tools such as spindle whorls, seeds and bones

give a first insight into the techniques and materials present

in the layer. Dating and spatial distribution and the amount

within the settlement show when and how important these

tools have been, and where they were used—for example in

specific houses only. Textile production needs a long series

of processes, from the production of the fibres in this area—

such as flax or sheep wool—which require knowledge of

agriculture and organization of the area, to the processing of

fibres, involving specialised knowledge of fibre properties

and textile production. The pile-dwelling settlements with

often well preserved organic materials are an ideal context to

study the whole process from the plant to the woven textile.

Arbon-Bleiche 3 and Pfyn-Breitenloo in Canton Thurgau

are two pile-dwelling settlements, where the individual steps

in Neolithic textile processing can be almost completely

reconstructed. From 1993 to 1995 an area of more than

1,100 m2 was excavated at the site of Arbon-Bleiche 3

(Leuzinger 2000; De Capitani et al. 2002; Jacomet et al.

2004; Jacomet 2009). A single-phase archaeological layer of

5–40 cm in thickness was discovered beneath a 2–3 m thick

sterile layer of sand. This cultural layer consisted of organic

bands, charcoal concentrations and distinct patches of clay.

More than 1,450 posts from houses made of Abies (silver fir),

Fraxinus (ash), Populus (poplar), Alnus (alder) and Quercus

(oak) were found. The analysis of the wood species and tree

rings made it possible to pinpoint the ground plans of the

houses exactly. There were at least four rows of houses, the

roof ridges of which were set parallel to the lanes between

them, which in turn ran at right angles to the lakeshore. The

oldest house in the settlement was built in 3384 B.C. After

only 15 years, in 3370 B.C., the village burnt down and was

never rebuilt. The site of Arbon-Bleiche 3, therefore, dates

exactly from the transition period between the Pfyn and

Horgen cultures.

The single-phase village of Pfyn-Breitenloo was con-

structed between two badly silted-up lakes in a small

shallow side valley off the main valley, the Thurtal

(Leuzinger 2007). The settlement originally consisted of

approximately 30 timber-built houses, which were occu-

pied from 3708 to 3704 B.C. In the autumn of 1944,

interned Polish soldiers under the direction of the archaeo-

logist Karl Keller-Tarnuzzer excavated approximately

Fig. 1 Map of Swiss sites mentioned in the article. 1 Arbon-Bleiche

3, 2 Gachnang/Niederwil-Egelsee, 3 Feldmeilen-Vorderfeld, 4 Grei-

fensee-Boschen, 5 Horgen-Dampfschiffsteg, 6 Maur-Schifflande, 7

Meilen-Roorenhab, 8 Pfyn-Breitenloo, 9 Steckborn-Turgi, 10 Ursch-

hausen-Horn, 11 Wetzikon-Robenhausen, 12 Zurich-Alpenquai, 13Risch, 14 Zurich-Breitingerstrasse, 15 Zurich-Mythenquai

Veget Hist Archaeobot

123

1,000 m2 of the late Neolithic settlement; further excava-

tions were done between 2002 and 2004. The characteristic

assemblage of vessels from Pfyn-Breitenloo later gave the

so-called Pfyn Culture (3900–3500 B.C.) its name.

The production of linen thread

The second step consists of the analysis of tools and threads.

It is clear that flax fibres were spun into fine thread, but how?

And how were the fibres processed prior to spinning?

Numerous spindle whorls have been found in the settle-

ments, but the exact processing from the raw flax stem to

fibre and then to a thread have not really been explained.

The question of fibre processing has already been raised

concerning Neolithic material from lake-dwellings (Rast-

Eicher and Thijsse 2001), and especially with regard to

Egyptian material and ultra-fine yarns from the Old

Kingdom, with up to 60 threads per centimetre (Cooke

et al. 1991; Vogelsang-Eastwood 1992; Kemp and Vogel-

sang-Eastwood 2001; Medard 2005). Egyptian linen

threads were spliced using fine strips (the term ‘‘splicing’’

is used here to describe the addition of fibre bundles to

produce a continuous thread, and cannot be translated by

the German spleissen which is a specific term in rope-

making), a technique of fibre processing seen on archaeo-

logical material, but also depicted in Egyptian wall

paintings. Cooke et al. discussed the possibility of green,

unripe, flax having been used (1991). The comparison with

Egyptian fibre processing will be taken up below. It con-

firms the stages of production as observed for our Neolithic

threads.

A first glimpse of fibre processing in Swiss material was

provided by a find from a site in Risch (Canton Zug) dated

to 3700 B.C. (Pfyn Culture) during the winter of 1996/1997

(Hochuli et al. 1998, Fig. 11; Rast-Eicher 2005). This find,

a fine linen thread, included strips of linen fibres which

were still stuck together with parallel nodes. This means

that the fibres had not been completely separated during

processing. In 1996, this question could not be pursued, but

was taken up again in 2006 when a project launched by the

Archaeological Department of Zurich (Kantonsarchaologie

Zurich) provided an opportunity and untreated material to

take a closer look at Neolithic linen threads by analysing

several samples and comparing the results with products

from experimental archaeology (Rast-Eicher and Dietrich

forthcoming).

Two examples may serve to illustrate the similarities and

differences between flax and tree bast: a textile from Zurich-

Mythenschloss (no/FK 1375), Schnurkeramik Culture was

made of Tilia (lime) bast (thread S-plied, diam. 0.7 mm; a

plied yarn is made of two single yarns; S is the twist

direction), while a thread from Zurich-Breitingerstrasse

(no/AF 17) Schnurkeramik or Horgen Culture was made of

flax (thread S-plied, diam. 0.3 mm) (Fig. 2a, b). Both

fragments were made of fibre strips, but the rays were still

visible in the lime bast thread from Zurich-Mythenschloss.

In this case fibre processing did not include complete retting

(partial decay on the ground or in water) and separation of

the fibres. In other cases, tree bast is difficult to distinguish

from flax (Korber-Grohne and Feldtkeller 1998). The indi-

vidual polygonal fibres of the linen thread from Zurich-

Breitingerstrasse were visible but stuck together, and the

nodes were clearly visible (Fig. 3f). The first question was

how much fibre processing was required to produce such a

thread.

In the summer of 2009 an experiment was carried out

which aimed to produce linen thread that resembled Neo-

lithic examples. The first thread was made using fibre strips

from green flax. The result did not correspond in any way

to Neolithic thread, as the fibres were covered by epider-

mis. The rectangular cells from the inside of the epidermis

were also visible. As a next step, field retting was intro-

duced to the process. The flax was spread out on a patch of

grass for a period of 10 days to 3 weeks. The stems that

had been exposed for 3 weeks were over-retted and the

fibres broke during further processing.

The fibres from the stems retted for a shorter period

10–12 days were easily stripped from the wet flax stems

and divided into finer strips (Fig. 2c). The stems were

deliberately broken several times—without damaging the

fibres—so that the hard inner parts fell away. Dried flax

had to be soaked in water for half an hour before further

processing could take place.

The wet strips were joined together by rolling the fibre

ends between the thumb and index finger (Fig. 2d). The

spliced yarn was then wound around a bottle cork and left

to dry. Two such ‘spools’ with spliced yarn were used to

spin a plied yarn using a drop spindle (Fig. 2e). The spliced

yarn had to be dry—moist or wet yarn broke.

Spinning and weaving

Since the early Horgen Culture (34th century B.C.) spinning

was carried out in what is today eastern Switzerland by

means of a spindle and a ceramic whorl. A total of 409

ceramic spindle whorls (Fig. 3a) as well as several frag-

ments of spindles made of Corylus avellana (hazel), Cor-

nus sp. (dogwood), Frangula alnus (alder buckthorn) and

Lonicera sp. (honeysuckle) were recovered from the lake-

side settlement of Arbon-Bleiche 3 (De Capitani et al.

2002). The distribution of the ceramic spindle whorls

throughout the settlement area clearly shows that thread

was originally spun in all the houses in Arbon-Bleiche 3.

The weights of the intact spindle whorls vary between 7

and 119 g; the majority, however, weigh between 16 and

35 g. It is worth noting that both the particularly heavy and

Veget Hist Archaeobot

123

Fig. 2 a Zurich-Mythenschloss, FK 1375, 2680 B.C., textile with

knotted pile; b Zurich-Breitingerstrasse, FK 17, c. 2700/2600 B.C.,

linen thread; c Experiment 2009, fibre strips being separated;

d Experiment 2009, two fine fibre strips being spliced together;

e Experiment 2009, two spliced yarns being plied. f Linen tabby

weave with starting border and selvedge from Gachnang/Niederwil-

Egelsee. Photographs: a–e A. Rast-Eicher; f AATG, D. Steiner

Veget Hist Archaeobot

123

Fig. 3 a Assemblage of spindle whorls from Arbon-Bleiche 3.

Diameter of the largest whorl: 8.6 cm; b Charred ball of S-plied linen

thread with a thickness of 0.5 mm from Pfyn-Breitenloo; c Charred

flax shives (straw fragments) from Pfyn-Breitenloo (3708–3703 ± 1

B.C.); d Experiment 2009, Spliced yarn, SEM photograph; e Zurich-

Breitingerstrasse, spliced yarn made of fine fibre strips, SEM

photograph; f Zurich-Breitingerstasse, S-plied linen thread, SEM

photograph; g Greifensee-Boschen, FK 2105, separated fibres, SEM

photograph; h Hallstatt (A), salt mine ‘‘Grunerwerk’’, middle Bronze

Age (1500–1200 B.C.), linen thread fibres, SEM photograph. Photo-

graphs: a–c AATG, D. Steiner; d–h A. Rast-Eicher

Veget Hist Archaeobot

123

the particularly lightweight specimens were concentrated

in certain buildings.

The finished product from this time-consuming process

can be inspected in the form of balls of thread (Fig. 3b).

Some of the charred flax thread was only 0.5 mm thick!

This thread was probably woven into regular narrow panels

of cloth using vertical warp-weighted looms. The use of

these looms is indicated by finds of round and conical loom

weights made of lightly burnt clay. These stretched the

warp threads on the frame of the loom. Concentrations of

loom weights were often found within the ground plans of

individual houses. This has enabled us to indirectly pin-

point the locations of the looms inside the buildings. In the

pile-dwelling settlements, flax was mainly used to make

tabby weaves, the easiest weaving pattern, weft over/under

one warp thread, or as weft in twining techniques (Fig. 2f).

Results

Step by step, from the field to the spun thread, the pro-

duction of linen textiles can be reconstructed by very close

analyses during excavation, and by further experiments to

explain fibre processing stages.

Archaeobotanical analyses carried out by researchers

from the Universities of Basel and Innsbruck revealed

numerous pollen and spores from a variety of plants

including pine, hazel, alder, beech, ivy, ferns, cereals and

flax from Arbon-Bleiche 3 and Pfyn-Breitenloo (Jacomet

et al. 2004; Haas et al. 2007). The relatively high propor-

tion of flax pollen in deposits at Pfyn-Breitenloo suggests

that the fields were located close to the settlement, since

flax pollen is dispersed by insects and not the wind. The

ripe flax was subsequently harvested and brought into the

village. Countless flax seeds were deposited in the cultural

layers after the harvest, and also seeds of Silene cretica

(Cretan catchfly), a characteristic flax weed. In the settle-

ment, the flax stems were broken and the fibres separated

from the woody components. This step in the process was

represented by countless remnants of stem deposited in

front of the houses (Fig. 3c). We can assume that further

fibre processing was done within the settlement as the

seeds found there are remains from rippling, the process

which removes the seed heads.

Viewed under the SEM, the result of the experimental

thread production was convincing: the spliced thread

looked very much like Neolithic thread, except for the spin

direction, which suggests that it was produced in a similar

manner (Fig. 3d, e). The difference in spin direction was

the result of holding the spindle differently. Woven textiles

found at Neolithic sites usually consist of S-plied thread, a

direction which does not normally occur when using a drop

spindle. The easiest way of working such a spindle is to

turn it clockwise while holding it in one’s right hand.

Therefore, we must assume that a different spinning tech-

nique was used to produce such thread. Attempts at pro-

ducing thread without a spindle have been made, but the

process appeared to be rather difficult without the rotation

of a spindle, as the spliced flax thread required quite a lot of

spin. The use of this technique has been suggested for the

production of tree bast thread, and this was in fact the case

in other cultures such as North American Indians or in

ancient Japan (Dusenbury 1985; Medard 2006). However,

a spindle with a lime bast thread was actually found in

Arbon-Bleiche 3 in Canton Thurgau (De Capitani et al.

2002), which shows that in our lake-dwellings tree bast

may also have been spun using a spindle.

The next question was how Bronze Age thread was made.

Bronze Age layers are not usually found in Swiss lakeside

settlements and therefore organic remains from that period

are rare. A small number of examples have been found in the

late Bronze Age site of Greifensee-Boschen dating from

around 850 B.C. (Canton Zurich; Eberschweiler et al. 2007;

Rast-Eicher and Dietrich forthcoming). The thread was still

plied, but looked much softer than that from the Neolithic

period. SEM analyses showed that the fibres were much

looser than those of Neolithic thread, accounting for the

softer appearance (Fig. 3g). Processing of the fibres was

visibly different and we may assume that, besides retting

(the process of rotting away the inner stalks of the flax to free

the fibres), combing also took place. Going back in time in

an attempt to find the moment at which techniques changed,

middle Bronze Age flax thread from the Hallstatt salt mine

‘‘Grunerwerk’’ was analysed. The SEM images showed

single fibres but the nodes were still parallel (Fig. 3h). This

was probably due to additional slow retting of the thread in

the salt mines, detaching all the fibres which were still stuck

together. There were only two Bronze Age samples, but the

results suggested that flax processing was different in the

late Bronze Age, when combing was introduced as a further

processing stage to produce fine separated fibres. This type

of processing meant that a single yarn could be spun instead

of splicing it. The fibres were still quite short, unlike modern

flax, and had to be plied. U. Korber-Grohne suggested a fibre

length of 21–30 cm for prehistoric flax in comparison to

modern flax with fibre lengths of 60–90 cm (1994). This

appears to have changed during the late Bronze Age or early

Iron Age, so that Iron Age flax thread consisted of single

yarns and was only rarely plied (Rast-Eicher 2008).

Returning to Egyptian fibre processing mentioned at the

beginning, there are interesting similarities between ancient

Egyptian and Neolithic thread production. Egyptian wall

paintings show the same steps as were used in Neolithic flax

processing, harvesting flax, rippling to remove the seeds,

breaking the stems, splicing and spinning/plying (Vogel-

sang-Eastwood 1992; Kemp and Vogelsang-Eastwood

Veget Hist Archaeobot

123

2001). There is no depiction of hackling or combing which

was used to get the long fibres only, letting the short ones

drop out, as was also the case with Neolithic thread.

The last part of the experiment differed somewhat from

the Egyptian method, as according to the wall paintings

Egyptians used ‘spinning bowls’, ceramic bowls with

internal loops, through which the thread was passed while

spinning to moisten the flax and perhaps to add starch paste

made of flour and water to strengthen the yarn (Kemp and

Vogelsang-Eastwood 2001).

Of course, the next question is whether Egyptian fibre

processing changed from splicing to spinning at the same

time as the changes occurred in European fibre processing?

The middle Bronze Age thread from Hallstatt seems to

have been produced in the old way, whereas the late

Bronze Age fabrics were probably made of combed

fibres—so when did this new technique appear? The results

suggest that the change occurred around 1000 B.C., but

since there are not enough samples yet available we cannot

say with any degree of certainty.

The results from the analysis of linen thread from Swiss

lakeside dwellings are as follows:

• Neolithic thread was plied using two spliced yarns.

• Flax had to be retted, but was not combed.

• Neolithic thread production was very similar to that of

ancient Egypt.

Discussion

Numerous artefacts including spindle whorls, spindles,

loom weights and finished fragments of netting and fabric

allow us to reconstruct Neolithic and Bronze Age textile

making techniques in the pile-dwelling sites throughout

eastern Switzerland. We can assume the flax production

was local, since well preserved layers like those at Arbon-

Bleiche 3 and Pfyn-Breitenloo contain remains of flax

processing. But there are scholars who suggest that some

villages specialized in growing and processing flax

(Schlichtherle 2009). It has not yet been established beyond

doubt whether sheep’s wool was already used in the latter

stages of the late Neolithic, since animal fibres do not

survive in the alkaline soils of the circum-Alpine wetland

settlements. Evidence from the animal bones, for instance

the increased percentage of sheep bones found, would

suggest that this may have been the case from the time of

the Schnurkeramik (Corded Ware) Culture onwards.

Furthermore, the shape of spindle whorls changes gen-

erally during the late Neolithic, which could come from a

change in raw material. We know for sure that wool has

been used in this area since the Bronze Age.

Microscopic analyses have shown that the original tex-

tile finds did not correspond exactly to the thread and

fabrics made to date by experimental archaeologists. In

particular, this concerns the processing of flax fibres. The

assumption to date has been that, in the Neolithic period

and up to the 20th century, the flax stalks had been retted

and then hackled by being pulled through combs. For

reconstructions of this step in the process, archaeologists

have traditionally referred to so-called ripple combs, split

and tied together with string. However, SEM analyses have

clearly shown that Neolithic linen fibres were processed as

strands of fibres, so that they were not hackled. This type of

fibre processing is very old and documented not only in

Europe with tree bast but even in the pre-pottery Neolithic

of the Near East with the use of bast fibres including Linum

sp. (PPNB in Nahal Hemar, Israel; Schick 1988). The same

technique was applied to flax in the Neolithic, and then also

in Bronze Age Egypt.

There, the whole processing is even shown on wall

paintings. However, there were small differences between

European and Egyptian techniques: our Neolithic fibres

must have been retted; if not, epidermis cells would often

be visible. Moreover, neither the SEM images nor the

experiments indicate that sizing (using glue to strengthen

warp threads) had been applied—in Egypt this was prob-

ably done at least for ultra-fine yarns by passing the spliced

thread through the loops in the ‘spinning bowls’ (Kemp

and Vogelsang-Eastwood 2001). It was not until the late

Bronze Age that the linen thread was hackled and combed,

and thus completely separated from straw (shives). Iron

Age linen thread was not usually spliced and only rarely

plied.

Conclusions

Due to the excellent preservation conditions and the

numerous and well-dated fragments of tools, flax remains

and remnants of textiles found in the pile-dwelling sites in

eastern Switzerland, it has been possible to reconstruct

completely the processes of textile production. By

archaeological methods (excavation), botanical analyses,

archaeological experimentation and detailed analyses

under the scanning electron microscope it has been possi-

ble to shed full light on prehistoric linen thread production

between 3900 and 800 B.C. Basically, early flax processing

seems to follow the tradition of the early—probably at least

Mesolithic—techniques of fibre processing used first for

tree bast fibres very probably in a wide geographical area,

which involved splicing. The change from spliced to single

yarn must be linked to the length of the fibres, and so to a

development of the plant as well.

Veget Hist Archaeobot

123

Acknowledgments We would like to thank Karina Gromer, Na-

turhistorisches Museum Wien, for providing the sample. We would

also like to thank Sandy Hammerle for her translation of our text.

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