Initial formative spinning without mechanical aids led to the gradual adoption in the Neolithic period of spindles with crude whorls initially of stone and later of fired clay resulting in qualitative and quantitative improvement in yarn production. The evolution of the hand spinning process culminated in the use of lightweight sherd whorls and the dropped spinning technique. Sporadic evidence for its use appears at Neolithic sites with universal acceptance in the Chalcolithic period. Experimentation in Western Asia during the Neolithic period with flaxen yarn gave rise to labour intensive utilitarian fabrics in twined and soumak technniques and decorative looped and knotted structures primarily restricted to loci of ideology. Darning the only technique suitable for mechanization gave rise to various tensioning devices initially with shed rod only and ultimately with heddle technology. In the Southern Levant during the course of the 5 th millennium, interaction between increasing skill in spinning and the development of heddle technology, access to adequate raw materials and the appropriate economic environment led at Teleilāt Ghassūl, Gilat and Bir es-Safadi to the adoption of textile economy. Material evidence indicates that at most sites it was a gradual process and only at these three sites a major change. The presence of innovatory, fibre wetting bowls at Neve Ur and Abu Hamid in the Jordan Valley, an area of flax cultivation and the magnitude of the whorl repertoire at Teleilāt Ghassūl, a whorl repertoire that exceeds all other in the Southern Levant suggests an information dissemination route of fibre technology along this axis. The large whorl repertoire at Bir es-Safadi and Gilat both sites beyond the range of rain-fed flax suggests low intensity exchange with the growers possibly via the intermediaries of the Judean Desert. The large textile repertoire and number of whorl recovered from the Judean Desert cave sites indicates familiarity with both the product and production methods. It is possible that these cave dwellers, optimizing their negotiating base for staples were the impetus for the development of the textile industry beyond the Jordan Valley. In the Beersheba valley sites and at Gilat without access to local raw material the industry must have been a minor aspect of the economy. Despite the large number of whorls there is no evidence for concentrations, which would suggest textile activity beyond the household level. Spinning whorls, the most prolific the most durable and often the only archaeological evidence of fibre activity has been delegated in most archaeological reports to the miscellaneous category of 'varia.' This study has shown that this untapped source of information can be judiciously integrated to advantage into archaeological II synthesis as a robust marker for socio-technological change. Conservatism, which characterizes the textile industry, particularly spinning the bottommost rung of the industry, permits the use of ethnographic observations and analogies for understanding the mechanical performance of traditional artifacts and the formative stages of the industry. Comparative, photographic documentation of paramount importance from the late 19 th Century and early 20 th Century which brings into focus archaeological findings is still accessible, albeit with difficulty, but academic standards do not permit its inclusion in this study. III

Artifacts and products related to spinning became relatively abundant in the southern Levant during the latter half of the 5th millennium BCE. Contrary to widespread scholarly opinions wool was not used for yarn production. Flax was the only fibre used. All the sites with remains of textiles or evidence for intensification of spinning are currently within the semi-arid zone, lacking the conditions favoured for flax cultivation or excess water for processing. A dramatic increase in spinning is attested by a profusion of lightweight, sherd spindle whorls used in the drop spinning technique at some of the semi-arid zone sites. In tandem with the pronounced rise in the frequency of whorls is the earliest known appearance of spinning bowls.

In a recent article published in this journal, Langgut et al. (2016: 973) proposed five Late Chalcolithic ( c . 4300–4000 BC) wooden shafts to be “the earliest Near Eastern wooden spinning implements”. Here we discuss these unique finds in light of their cultural and technological contexts, and suggest an alternative interpretation according to which these wooden shafts, one with a lead macehead lodged on its upper end, were components of the cultic practices of the southern Levantine Ghassulian culture.

Little is known about archaic loom types. This foot-and thigh-braced loom, a live tradition hitherto unknown to research, is one of the many missing links on the long trajectory to evolved mechanised looms with shed and heddle technology and warp tensioning by elements other than human body parts.

The southern Levant features a long-established matting tradition: soumak (weft wrapping) and also weft twined matting from the 10th millennium BC, and coiled matting from the 8th millennium BCE. The Chalcolithic period, 5th millennium BCE, attests to the introduction of plain plait, twill,
sewn through techniques and also the use of the horizontal ground mat loom. Ellipsoid pebbles with opposed notches (groundstone) have been recovered from several sites from various periods. Such artifacts are generally identified as fish net sinkers. We offer an alternative interpretation. We argue that the pebbles were used in the manufacture of papyrus (paper reed) or reed matting on an upright mat loom using the warp twining technique. The technique is known ethnographically from Israel to Japan.

Unsere Vorfahren hatten als Bewohner tropischer Regionen mit gleichmäßig hohen Temperaturen aus praktischen Gründen kaum oder gar keinen Bedarf für Kleidung. Die Anfänge der Kleidung liegen während des Mittel-Paläolithikums vor 300.000 bis 50.000 Jahren. Sie sind mit Wanderungsbewegungen des Menschen von Afrika in mittlere Breiten hinein verbunden. Die paläoklimatischen Bedingungen sind ebenso bekannt, wie die begrenzte physiologische Fähigkeit des Menschen, dauerhaft Kälte zu ertragen. Ein Unterschlupf und Feuer bieten nur ungenügenden Schutz vor dem Wetter. Kleidung als tragbare Isolierung des Körpers wurde notwendig, um das eigene Leben zu erhalten.