A useful introduction to textile technologies is Hans E. Wulff, The Traditional Crafts of Persia, Cambridge, MA (1966). For classification and terminology, see Irene Emery, The Primary Structures of Fabrics, Washington (1980), Dorothy K. Burnham, Warp and Weft: A Textile Terminology, Toronto (1980), and John T. Wertime, "The Names, Types, and Functions of Nomadic Weaving in Iran," in Yoruk: The Nomadic Weaving Tradition of the Middle East, ed. Anthony N. Landreau, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh (1978), pp. 23 - 26. Michael L. Ryder, Sheep and Man, Duckworth, London (1983) addresses cultural concerns relevant to wool in the ancient Near East; Grace M. Crowfoot, Methods of Hand Spinning in Egypt and the Sudan, F. King & Sons, Halifax (1931), has correlated contemporary local spinning practices with ancient parallels. Once established, textile technologies seem to have changed relatively little until industrialization in the nineteenth century C.E., thus relevant and comparative information may be gleaned from from post-medieval sources. See, for example, Carol Bier (ed.), Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart: Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran, Washington (1987), and, for earlier periods, the collaborative entry on "Crafts" in Encyclopedia Iranica, vol. VI, pp. 390-98 (1993), and her chapter on "Textiles," in P.O. Harper, ed. The Royal Hunter: Art of the Sasanian Empire, New York (1978), pp. 119-140.

Extant remains of Neolithic textiles and related artifacts are documented and analysed in J. M. Adovasio, "The Textile and Basketry Impressions from Jarmo," Paleorient 3 (1975-77), pp. 223 - 230 and Tamar Schick, "Nahal Hemar Cave: Cordage, Basketry and Fabrics," 'Atiquot (Jerusalem), vol. 18 (1988), pp. 31 - 43. For Çatal Hüyük, see H. Helbach, "Textiles from Çatal Hüyük," Archaeology, vol. 16, no. 1 (1963), pp. 39 - 46, M.L. Ryder, "Report of Textiles from Çatal Hüyük," Anatolian Studies, vol. 15 (1965), pp. 175 - 176, H.B. Burnham, "Çatal Hüyük: The Textiles and Twined Fabrics," Anatolian Studies, vol. 15 (1965), pp. 169 - 174, and Gillian M. Vogelsang-Eastwood, "A Re-Examination of the Fibres from the Çatal Hüyük Textiles," Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies London, vol. 3, part 1 (1987), pp. 15 - 19.

For elaboration of Bronze Age developments, E.J.W. Barber has compiled an impressive corpus of literary, archaeological, and visual evidence in Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, with Special Reference to the Aegean, Princeton (1991). An extraordinary ancient compilation of textiles is discussed by M. Th. Barrelet, "Un inventaire de Kar Tukulti Ninurta: textiles décorés assyriens et autres," Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie orientale, vol. 71/1 (1977), pp. 51 - 92.

For the first millennium B.C.E., see Trudy Kawami, "Archaeological Evidence for Textiles in Pre-Islamic Iran," Iranian Studies, vol. 23, no. 3-4 (in press), pp. 1-12. For the Pazyryk textiles in particular, see Karen S. Rubinson, "The Textiles from Pazyryk: A Study in the Transfer and Transformation of Artistic Motifs," Expedition, vol. 32, no. 1 (1990), pp. 49 - 61; for the carpet, see Harald Böhmer and Jon Thompson, "The Pazyryk Carpet: A Technical Discussion," Source: Notes in the History of Art, vol. 10, no. 4 (1991), pp. 30 - 36. For a refreshing interpretation of its meaning in the context of other textile arts of the first millennium B.C.E., see David Stronach, "Patterns of Prestige in the Pazyryk Carpet: Notes on the Representational Role of Textiles in the First Millennium B.C.," Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies, vol. IV, edited by Murray L. Eiland, Jr., Robert Pinner, and Walter B. Denny, San Francisco Bay Area Rug Society and OCTS ltd., Berkeley (1993), pp. 19-34.

On Assyrian carpets, interpretations based on representational sources are offered by Pauline Albenda "Assyrian Carpets in Stone," The Journal of the Ancient Near East Society (New York, Columbia University), vol. 10 (1984), pp. 1 - 34 and Stephanie Dalley, "Ancient Assyrian Textiles and the Origins of Carpet Design," Iran, vol. XXIX, London (1991), pp. 117 - 135, who considers textual sources as well.

For reconstruction of socio-economic contexts of Iron Age textiles, see Daniel Crowell Browning, Jr., The Textile Industry of Iron Age Timnah and its Regional and Socioeconomic Contexts: A Literary and Artifactual Analysis, Ph.D. thesis, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas (1988). For utilization of textual sources of an earlier period, see Hartmut Waetzoldt, Untersuchungen zur neusumerischen Textilindustrie, Rome (1972).

Several authors have attempted to interpret the visual aspect of written descriptions of textiles. See, for example, M.E. Vogelsang, "Meaning and Symbolism of Clothing in Ancient Near Eastern Texts," pp. 265 - 284 in Scripta signa vocis, ed. H. Vanstiphout (1986), J. Milgrom, "Of Hems and Tassels," BAR 9 (1983), pp. 61 - 65, W.R. Mayer, "Mardatu 'Teppisch'," Ugarit Forschungen 9 (1977), pp. 173 - 189, and M. van de Mieroop, "Crafts in the Early Isin Period, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 24 (1987), pp. 35 - 36.

A good general introduction to the study of ancient textiles, focusing on the Roman Empire and European developments, is John Peter Wild, Textiles in Archaeology, Aylesbury (1988). The Archaeological Textiles Newsletter, Leiden (1985 - ) serves as a forum and clearing house for preliminary notice of textile finds. See also the works of Gillian M. Vogelsang-Eastwood, "Textiles Available from Middle Eastern Sites," in Dyes on Historical and Archaeological Textiles, vol. 1 (1982) and A Brief Guide to the Cataloguing of Archaeological Textiles, 2nd ed. (1984).

Ehud Spanier, ed., The Royal Purple and the Biblical Blue: The Study of Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog and Recent Scientific Contributions, Jerusalem (1987), combines analytical, archaeological, and interpretive studies focusing on Israel's ancient dyeing industries. On this fascinating and colorful subject, see also I. Zidderman, "First Identification of Authentic tekelet," BASOR 265 (1987), pp. 25 - 33 [also in BAR 53 (1990) 98 - 101; contra P.E. McGovern, in BASOR 269 (1988), pp. 81 - 90], N. Karmon and E. Spanier, "Remains of Purple Dye Industry Found at Tell Shiqmona," IEJ 38(1988), pp. 184 - 186 and an early issue of Ciba Review, vol. 4 (1937).

Annette B. Weiner and Jane Schneider, Cloth and Human Experience, Washington (1989) may broaden our perspectives on the expressiveness of cloth with respect to social issues.

Prepared for "Textile Arts in Ancient Western Asia," in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, ed. J. Sasson and K. Rubinson. Pp.1567-1588. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York., 1995, by Carol Bier.