A craft in change : A study of the manufacture of woolen textiles in Sweden from Bronze Age to Early Iron Age.

The complex process of manufacturing woolen textiles contains a long chain of cooperation between resources, techniques and society. With a focus on South and Central Sweden, this study aims to trace the development of woolen textiles and its manufacture, how and why it changed and obtained an increased meaning from the Early Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. Archaeological biography and materiality are used as theoretical concepts to firstly explore how textile tools, sheep husbandry and woolen textiles changed in occurrence and appearance over time and space. Secondly, by comparing these results, the study analyzes how the different source materials may have affected each other towards the advancement of woolen textiles. The results suggest that a successive increase of sheep among settlements, caused by probably ecological and/or economic factors, possibly led to an increase in wool that sparked the textile development with the creation of more advanced tools and techniques for making woolen textiles in a gradually higher quality. The relationships between people and woolen textiles, as well as its components of manufacture, also seems to have altered during the investigated period, sometimes probably due to influences from the outside world