ÉPUISÉ - North European Textiles until AD 1000, 1992, 286 p., 206 fig., rel. -

Since 1350, the Lord Chancellor of England's seat in parliament has been the woolsack. This was decreed by King Edward III, in order that no-one should forget the importance of the wool industry to the economy of Britain. But how far back in time do the origins of that industry stretch ? This book argues that the first steps towards organized textile production in northern Europe were taken more than 2,500 years ago, in the early Iron Age. Later, larger-scale textile industries developed. One of these industries was centred around the English Channel and North Sea coastal areas ; it played an important part in the rise of the Carolingian Empire and Anglo-Saxon England. This book catalogues around 1,200 textile finds in Great Britain, Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Finland, providing an extensive survey of a much-neglected archaeological field.