New Perspectives on the Bronze Age Textile Production in the Eastern Mediterranean : The First Results with Ebla as the Pilot Study

The systematic analyses of Bronze Age textile tools conducted by the Italian Ebla team (MAIS) and the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research (CTR) have made it possible to portray Ebla textile production. For weaving, the ground loom and the two-beam loom were the preferred technologies; the spinning tools, including spindle whorls, show gradual development and changes from the Early Bronze Age to the Middle Bronze Age, with the introduction of new types of tools and materials, reduced sizes and weights, likely indicating that thinner yarn and f ner textiles were becoming more abundant.