Work

Bast from the past: the fibre architectures and properties of Ancient Egyptian and Peruvian fishing nets

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Bast fibres have been critical materials in the evolution of human history. In particular, their use in fishing technology as well as in maritime transport has enabled mobility, livelihoods, and the exchange of goods and transmission of cultures in human societies. Here, we compare fishing nets from two distant but contemporaneous groups at the end of the 4th millennium BCE: one from Neolithic period in Egypt and the other from the Middle Preceramic Peruvian Pacific coast. The fishing nets possess substantially similar textile architectures even though they use bast fibres from different species: domesticated cf. Linum usitatissimum L. (flax linen) by the Ancient Egyptians and cf. Asclepias . (milkweed) by the coastal Peruvian community. We examine these two fibre types and show that despite their distinct morphological and ultrastructural characteristics, their processing and manufacture share some similarities, both 2-ply with Z final torsion. Multiphoton, atomic force, and scanning electron microscopy are supplemented by 3D micro-computed X-ray phase-contrast tomography to investigate the unique architectures of the yarns and their fibres’ artefacts. We demonstrate the use of state-of-the-art micro-spectroscopy techniques for archaeobotanical studies and use fishing nets as a new lens to unravel the episteme and techne of fibre and textile production in the past. Graphical Abstract

Source: The European Physical Journal Plus

DOI: 10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06985-8