From fiber to fabric: archaeology, production and uses of textiles from ancient Nubia and Sudan in the Meroitic period.

Summary My thesis aims to study all aspects of textile production in Sudan during the Meroitic period (300 BC - 400 AD). As an artisanal production, textiles are the fruit of numerous manufacturing steps, from the cultivation of the fiber to its transformation into threads, and to the weaving. Textiles are also one of the pillars of the material culture of ancient societies. They fulfilled a wide variety of functions, linked to clothing or furniture, in all contexts, whether urban, cultural or funerary. Other questions will have to be addressed, such as that of trade with the Roman world, or that of the place of Sudanese textile production in the wider spaces of the Nile Valley or the Mediterranean world. My thesis will aim to document all of these themes, touching on different fields such as archaeobotany, textile studies, iconographic analysis, archaeology and history.my work will consist of collecting and analyzing tools, fabrics and reliefs showing costumes, each documentary group shedding light on one or more aspects of textile production. It will also involve observing archaeological contexts in order to determine the different modalities of production and use of fabrics. Such a study, based on a rich corpus of often unpublished objects, will make it possible to illustrate a little-known area of the material and economic culture of Meroitic Sudan.