A new study reveals that ancient Egyptians wore fashionable striped socks
The striped sock appears to have warmed a child's foot in the late dynastic period
A striped sock, dating back to the 3rd or 4th century, was recovered from a landfill during the 1913-1914 excavations of the Egyptian city of Antinooupolis led by the English papyrologist John de Monins Johnson on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund.
While previous research had pinpointed its age, not much else was known about the sock or its owner. A new research is now revealing the sock's secrets.
A group of museum scientists hoping to better understand ancient Egyptian clothing manufacturing and trading practices analyzed the dyes present in the sock, along with several other textiles dating from around 250 to 800 AD.
To test the pigments they used multispectral imaging, which only requires scanning the surface of the artifacts.
Analysis revealed that the sock contained seven shades of wool yarn woven together in a meticulous striped pattern. Only three natural plant-based dyes (madder root for the red, woad leaves for the blue and weld flower for the yellow) were used to create the different color combinations featured on the sock.
Experts explain that the imaging technique also revealed how colors were mixed to create shades of green, purple and orange: in some cases, fibers of different colors were spun together; in others, individual yarns are passed through multiple dye baths.
Such complexity is quite impressive, considering that the ancient sock is both “tiny” and “fragile.”
Given its size, researchers believe it may have been worn on a child's left foot.
The sock offers a vision beyond what was all the rage in youth fashion some 1,700 years ago. Analysis of its construction provides a lot of information about the length of time it warmed your feet. The period encompassing Egypt's late antiquity is rich in history: during this period Egypt experienced a huge upheaval that ended with the Muslim conquest of the region in 641 AD
“These events affect the economy, trade, access to materials. Which is reflected in the technical composition of what people wore and how they fabricated suck objects.”
