Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece

When was this made?

By Christopher Smith '22



The textile is assumed to have been made between the 7th and 9th centuries. We have a distinct indicator for the beginning of the time range, which is that it is a weft-faced textile. This pattern for weaves was introduced to Central Asia from China via the Silk Road in the early 7th century. About the end of the time range, much of it is guess work. We try to link this textile to other textual records, such as to industries, and comparisons with other textiles.

The textile, being made of silk (from silkworms), is organic material so it can be carbon dated. It has not been carbon dated yet, but if it was, we would have a more accurate time interval. For instance, by using the half-life of the carbon-14 isotope and measuring its quantity in a strand of the textile, we can get a confidence interval of ~95% for a range of ~100 years, and a lesser ~60% confidence interval for a range of ~30 years for example.

 

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