kwaspen linen trousers artikel

8/13/2019 Kwaspen Linen Trousers Artikel

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fig. Inv. KTN .

Collection Katoen Natie, Antwerp, photos Hugo Maertens;drawings Anne Kwaspen


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fig. Drawing of the finishing of seams.Anne Kwaspen

* C dating. F a, , cited by H , . F , : Und merkwrdig, was ich hier

geunden, hatten wir selbst au dem grossen Grber-elde von Achmim nicht zu erhoffen gewagt: DerTodte, von dessen Krper nur noch das lose Gerippebrig geblieben war, trug Mtze, Tunika und Hosen!Ein paar leibhafige Unaussprechliche sah ich vor mirund die Beinknochen staken noch drin cited byH , .

G b, : Une spulture de emme a ournideux specimens de pantalons de mousseline transpar-ente brode, ports directement sur le corps. Jusquicicest le seul exemple de cet usage.

N , . D M/V-L/V ,

, .

Only a small number o pairs o t rousers othe first millennium have been discovered.Besides finds in Northern Europe and CentralAsia, only a ew pairs o linen trousers havesurvived rom Egypt and Syria. A thoroughstudy o the pattern-cutting o our o theselinen garments has been undertaken and rep-licas made or better understanding o their fit.The unction and shape o each pattern piecehas been studied in order to figure out how onehit upon this type o trousers, with its charac-teristic eatures.

Linen trousersOnly a ew pairs o linen t rousers have sur-vived rom the first millennium . Severalmore pairs o trousers were probably oundduring excavations in the th and early th

century, but because there was little inter-est in textiles in general and non-decoratedtextiles in particular, they may have got lost.Trousers worn by the deceased were probablyalso ofen in poor condition due to degradationcaused by decomposition o the corpse. Weknow rom excavation reports how surprisedarchaeologists were, when they came acrossa pair o trousers. The trousers in the St ifungMuseum KunstPalast collection in Dsseldor

are probably the ones that Forrer describes inDie Graeber- und Textilunde von Akhmim-Panopolis and were ound as grave urnishing.With a second find o trousers, Forrer em-phasizes how special it was to find these trou-sers worn by the deceased.Also Gayet under-lines the unique character o the discovery otrousers in the grave o a woman.

For this study, the pattern pieces othree pairs o trousers were measured and

drawn. They are rom the collections o KatoenNatie, the Muse du Louvre and Stifung Mu-seum KunstPalast, which are visually similar incut but not in size. An at tempt was also made toreconstruct the pair o trousers rom Halabiye,kept in the National Museum, Damascus, onthe basis o photographs with scales.

All our pairs are constructed with the same ba-sic pattern pieces: a large rectangle to orm thetrouser-legs, a smaller rectangle on the back,

two triangular inserts and a gusset to create thecrotch (present in three o the our pairs).

When put together, these pattern piecesorm trousers with a wide waist, and remark-able openings on the backside o the legs levelwith the cal.

In order to keep the trousers in place, ineach pair, the top o the rectangular back piecehas been turned to the ront to orm a tunnelthrough which a belt can be put. In the upperront all trousers have belt loops.

Analyses of the trousers. Trousers Inv. KTN , Katoen Natie,

Antwerp, dated C: to (.% probability) (fig. )

This is the largest pair o trousers with a totalheight o cm, an inside leg length o cm anda waist circumerence o cm. It seems clearthat these trousers were made rom re-usedabrics. This can be deduced rom the different

weave densities (thread counts) o the differentpattern pieces, but also rom the remnants ocoloured threads woven in and some remnantso stitches in the middle o the ront part.

All seams are finished with a flat ellseam (fig. ).This means that or every seamtwo lines o st itches need to be executed. Theedges o the cut-out pattern pieces are turnedto the inside o the seam, which prevents ray-ing o the abric. All hems are finished witha rolled seam. The working sequence or as-

sembling the trousers can be deduced rom thestudy o the seams.

Anne Kwaspen andAntoine De Moor* The pattern-cutting of linen trousers in Late Antiquity

Flat seam

Rolling seam


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T - L A I

fig. Inv. AF .

Muse du Louvre, Paris; photos G. Poncet;drawings Anne Kwaspen

Weaving analyses o these trousers were done by

Chris Verhecken-Lammens or which I warmly thankher.

B , .

Only then is the large rectangle that willorm the trouser-legs sewn to the back parts.First the top edge o this rectangle is finishedwith a rolled seam, beore the hypotenuse othe triangle inserts is sewn on, to close the sideseams. Next, a long slit is cut into the rectanglerom the middle o the lower side up to about cm below the top edge.

The split seams are then sewn to thebottom o the back piece, whereby the tip othe gusset is placed into the point o the split.The edges under the triangular inserts, whichorm the opening on the calves, were finishedwith a rolled seam.

Big rectangle orming the legs: H: cm,W: cm (all measurements in this paper arewithout seam allowance); warp: linen S-spun:/cm; wef: linen S-spun: /cm;

tabby weave.Smaller rectangular back piece: H:

cm + . cm, W: cm; warp: linen S-spun:/cm; wef: linen S-spun: /cm;tabby weave.

Triangular inserts: H: cm, W: cm;warp: linen S-spun: /cm; wef: linen S-spun:/cm; tabby weave, remains o red wool pick,selands.

Gusset: H: cm, W: .cm; warp: linen

S-spun: /cm; wef: linen S-spun: /cm;tabby weave, selands.

Sewing threads: linen SZ.

. Trousers Inv. AF , Muse du Louvre,Paris, dated C: to (,% probability)(fig. )

At first sight, the pair o trousers rom the mu-se du Louvre looks like a smaller copy o thetrousers described above. This example has a

circumerence o cm, an inside leg lengtho cm and a total height o cm. Minordifferences are that the rectangular back piecewas made up o one large rectangle on the lefside with two superimposed smaller rectan-gles sewn on. This could again be an indica-tion that these trousers may have been madeo re-used abrics.

The triangular side pieces are alsosmaller than those o the previous pair o trou-sers. The tips o the triangles are fixed cm

below the top edge o the trousers.The hypotenuses o the triangles are

First, a split o cm is cut in the rectan-gular back piece and into this split two sideso the gusset are sewn. Subsequently, the twolong base sides o the triangular inserts aresewn on either side o the back piece. Then thetunnel or the belt is ormed by turning the up-per edge o the back piece . cm (+ cm seam

allowance) to the ront side o the abric andfixed with whip stitches.


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fig. Inv. . Stifung Museum KunstPalast, Dsseldor.

Photos Stifung Museum KunstPalast, Dsseldor;drawings Anne Kwaspen

was also not cut to this back piece, and thatthere is great variation o the thread counts inboth pieces, strongly suggests that these trou-sers again are made rom re-used abrics, evenmore likely because o the red and red-green

decoration on the back.In this example the gusset is not dia-mond shaped, but triangular. The triangle wassewn to the bottom o the back par t, wherebythe seam allowance lies against the back piece.This means that small incisions had to be madein the seam allowance, because the rest o theseam o the back piece lay towards the otherside, on the ront piece o the trousers.

In these pants, it is very noticeable thatthe tailor worked with the stretching ability

o the oblique, bias side o the triangles. Thehypotenuse is approximately cm long, the

about cm shorter than the length o the rontparts where these were sewn on. This obliqueside seam thus needed to be stretched cm onthe bias to fit the ront part.

The order o working and the finishingo the trousers are almost the same as or thetrousers o KTN, only there is no split in thesetrousers cut in the back, but the gusset wassewn directly in the centre o the bottom edgeo this back piece part. The stitches thereore(and thus the seam allowance) o this seam layon the gusset, and not on the back par t. An-other small difference is the finishing o the topedge o the ront part. This ront part was cutwith the top edge representing the selvedge othe weaving and thereore no urther finishingo a hem was necessary.

These trousers in the Louvre also have

an extra piece. A strip o about cm wide issewn to the centre o the ront. This part is notcomplete and we could not figure out the unc-tion o this strip.

Big rectangle orming the legs:H: cm, W: . cm; warp: linen S-spun:/cm; wef: linen S-spun: /cm;tabby weave.

Smaller rectangular back piece: com-posed o three rectangles H: . cm + . cm,

W: cm; warp: linen S -spun: /cm; wef:linen S-spun: /cm; tabby weave.

Triangular inserts: H: . cm, W:. cm; warp: linen S-spun: /cm; wef:linen S-spun: /cm; tabby weave.

Gusset: H: cm, W: . cm; warp:linen S-spun: /cm; wef: linen S-spun: /cm;tabby weave.

Sewing threads: linen SZ.

. Trousers Inv. , MKP, Dsseldorf(fig. )These trousers have the same basic pattern-cutting as the previous pairs, but are breechesreaching only to the knees. The waist meas-ures . cm, the inside leg length cmand total length is cm. The maker o thesebreeches must have been very amiliar withthis type o cut, since one o the triangularside parts is cut directly on the back piece. Inthis way time was saved because t wo rows

o stitches (flat ell seams) do not have to bemade. The act that the other triangular piece


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fig. Trousers of the National Museum, Damascus. Anne Kwaspen

Weaving analyses o these trousers were done byChris Verhecken-Lammens or which I warmly thankher.

wef: silk S-spun; Right: warp and wef: linenS-spun. Sewing threads: linen SZ.

. Trousers in the National Museum Da-mascus, the Halabiye trousers (fig. )

This is the smallest pair o trousers in thisstudy. The waist circumerence measuresonly cm, the inside leg is cm and thetotal length cm. These trousers also areconstructed according to the same basic cut,

except or the lack o a gusset at the crotch.The triangles are small and start only about cm below the waist. Here again, differentpieces o cloth are probably brought togetherto be re-used in the pair o trousers. In thesetrousers, there is a vertical seam in the ront othe lef leg. A close look at the finishing o theseams indicates that the triangles are sewn firstto the back piece, prior to the stitching o theside/back-seams. Finally, the inside-leg seamis closed. These trouser-legs have only a short

split that just star ts on the mid-cal. This meansthat the seam o the lower leg is partially sewn.

side o the ront part cm. So the hypotenusehad to be stretched cm. This results in bulg-ing side seams.

On the ront, two belt loops are sewn.It is strik ing that the lef loop is made rom adifferent material, probably silk.

Big rectangle orming the legs: H: cm, W: cm; warp: linen S-spun: /cm;wef: linen S-spun: /cm; tabby weave.

Smaller rectangular back piece: H:

cm + . cm, W: . cm; warp: linen S-spun:/cm; wef: linen S-spun: /cm; tabbyweave; red bands: wef-aced tabby, extendedtabby by dropped/crossed: /: /cm.

Triangular inserts: the lef triangleorms one pattern piece with the rectangularback piece. The right triangle: H: . cm, W:. cm; warp: linen S-spun: /cm; wef:linen S-spun: /cm; tabby weave, remainso red wool pick, selands.

Triangular gusset: H: cm, W: . cm;

Tabby weave.Belt loops: Lef: warp: linen S-Spun,


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fig. a: Wrapping of a cloth; b: incision on the front ofthe wrapping; c: cross-section of a human figureto show the rounding needed to be formed inbetween the legs; d: the pattern-pieces needed

to create a trouser-leg. Anne Kwaspen

All pattern pieces o these linen trou-sers have simple basic shapes: rectangles,squares and right-angled triangles (diagonally-bisected rectangles).

. Features of the pattern-cuttingof the four pairs of linen trousersTrousers are a garment that covers the un-derbody and the legs by two connectedtrouser-legs.

All early trousers (linen and woollen)are made without side seams. We may acceptthat their origin was rom a wrapping as a steptowards creating trousers (fig. a).

To make trousers rom a wrapping,a second incision is needed in the middle o it,rom the bottom on to orm t wo separated legs(fig. b).This incision ofen stops beore reach-ing the top.

The drawings o the pattern cutting(fig. )placed next to each other make clearthat the our pairs o linen trousers have a bigrectangle as a basic pattern piece with an inci-sion at center-ront to create the trouser-legs.The drawings in this publication are all madewithout seam allowance: that is the reason

why they show a wider incision, but in realit ythis was just a simple cut in the abric.

The hypotenuses o the triangular inserts arestretched rom to cm. These small trou-sers have also our belt loops on the ront.

Big rectangle orming the legs:H: cm, W: cm + cm; tabby weave.

Smaller rectangular back piece:H: cm + cm, W: cm; tabby weave.Triangular inserts: H: cm, W: cm;

tabby weave.

Pattern-cutting of trousersIt is important to keep in mind that the pattern-cutting o these trousers was known by heart.In modern tailoring, beore cutting the pat-tern pieces out o abric, these pieces are firstdrawn out and cut out in paper. But we assumethat in the first millennium the pat tern piec-es were still directly cut rom the abric.

In general the pattern-cutting or cloth-ing in Egypt was not well developed. Havinga look at the construct ion o tunics beorethe th centur y, we see that they were wovenin simple rectangular orms. For tunics withsleeves, the sleeves were integral to the weave.The result is a simple T-shaped tunic, with nomore seams than strictly necessary. The tunics

were not fitted to the body. Darts and pleatswere not known in clothing.

a b c d


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fig. a: Drawing of the pattern-cutting of trousers inv.KTN ; b: drawing of the pattern-cutt ing oftrousers muse du Louvre in v. AF ; c: draw-ing of the pattern-cutt ing of trousers MuseumKunst Palast Dsseldorf inv. ; d: drawing ofthe pattern-cutting of trousers of the National

Museum, Damascus. Anne Kwaspen

I , .

The use o a gusset to orm the crotch otrousers can best be explained by the trouserso Moscevaja Balka.These trousers have themost simple pattern-cutt ing. They are cre-ated with just three squares: two bigger andone smaller (fig. ).The smaller one was usedas a gusset, so it was olded on the diagonaland stitched between the two legs. Drawing(fig. )shows a hal pattern o one trousers-lego the Moscevaja Balka trousers and illustratesclearly that a rounding is created to orm thecrotch. The small gussets used in the linentrousers o this study give the same result.

The unction o the big rectangle toorm the legs and the smaller rectangle andthe gusset to orm the crotch is explained.

But or what reason were two triangular in-serts put in the back? To find an answer to

Then another important eature otrousers needs to be ormed: the crotch. Thedrawing o the cross-section o the body(fig. c)tries to make clear that a roundingneeds to be ormed in between the legs. Draw-ing (fig. d)shows the concept o a hal patternpiece o a t rouser-leg. This looks like the basicpattern-cut o trousers nowadays.

One way to orm the crotch is used in allour pairs o trousers, using the smaller rec-tangular back piece. The undersides o theserectangles were stitched to the ront part insuch a way that they clearly orm the roundingneeded or the crotch (fig. ).

But or three o the our pairs o trouserswe see that this back piece crotch was com-

bined with another way to orm the crotch,namely with the use o a gusset.

a b


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fig. Drawing of the formed back part of the trousers. Anne Kwaspen

fig. Drawing of the pattern-cutting of trousersof Moscevaja Balka. Anne Kwaspen

fig. Drawing of a quarter of the trousers

of Moscevaja Balka.Anne Kwaspen

S , . H , , . F , .

F , . V P/V S/A et al. ,. C dated:

When making a drawing o the pattern

pieces (fig. )with this so-called missing piecein between the two ront pieces, a rectangularpiece is created, comparable to the basic rec-tangle o the linen trousers. These Damendortrousers have also a smaller rectangular backpiece, but no triangular inserts. The result-ing (fig. )replica o this interpretation o theDamendor trousers shows on the model thatthese trousers are completely out o propor-tion. The trouser-legs are o course still verytiny, but the waist is very big.

So when creating a pair o trousersstarting rom a big rectangle or the trouser-legs and a smaller one at the back, it was nec-essary to provide more space on the hips andlegs. But o course no more extra width wasneeded on the waist, so the insertion o trian-gles was the logical solution.

For the sake o completeness: theDamendor trousers have a curved seam atcenter-ront to orm the ront-part o the

crotch. These trousers are dated to the ndto th century,but in that respect already

this question, other trousers o the first mil-

lennium were examined, more precisely thewoollen trousers ound in Schleswig-Holstein,Germany. These trousers were publishedby Schlabowand Hald.A replica (fig. )ismade o the Damendor trousers more or lessthe same as the replica that is presented inthe Archologisches Landesmuseum, SchlossGottor, made afer the study and conserva-tion o the trousers in by Farke.Thesetrousers have an extremely narrow fitting andonly a very slim model fitted these trousers.Unortunately Farke did not publish her studyo the pattern-cutting. The only drawings othe pattern-cutting o the Damendor trousersare those o Schlabow and Hald. Schlabowand Hald based their study on the t rousers asthey were conservedin the museum in theearly th centur y. The stitching threads othe trousers were rotten and the loose pieceso the trousers were fixed together on a wool-len support in the orm o trousers, whereby

a supposed missing hal circle was put in thecenter-ront but incorrectly.

c d


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Age:

Waist: cm

Waist-Foot: cm

Crotch-Foot: cm

Age:

Waist: cm

Waist-Foot: cm

Crotch-Foot: cm

T - L A I

fig. Replica of the Damendorf trousers with a halfcircle inserted in centre-front according to

the drawing published by M. Hald. Photo Anne Kwaspen

fig. Drawing of the pattern cutting of the Damendorftrousers, including a half circular pattern piece

according to the drawing published by M. Hald. Anne Kwaspenfig. Replica of the Damendorf trousers. Photo Anne Kwaspen

H , . G/C-S , .

Katoen Natie and the muse du Louvre. For thetrousers in the National Museum o Damacus,it is known that they were ound in Halabiye.The trousers o the Museum KunstPalast col-lection could be the pair o trousers describedby Forrer, which he ound in Akhmim-Pano-polis. But or none o the trousers does anyinormation exist about the age and gender othe wearer, or how these t rousers were worn.

In , a team rom the Pol-ish Center or Mediterranean Archaeology(Warsaw University) led by W. Godlewskiexcavated a Coptic cemetery o the ththcentury .This cemetery is located near themonastery o Naqlun in the Fayoum region oEgypt. In grave CT o the cemetery C a mum-mified and wrapped body was ound. In ,a controlled unwrapping in a field lab ollowed.The deceased male appeared to be wearing

trousers, and rom the description it can be de-duced that these trousers are o the same type

demonstrate a much more advanced pattern-cutting method than the later dated linentrousers.

The last, but striking eature o theselinen trousers, is the openings on the calves.The explanation or these open seams was alsoound by examining the fitting o the replicaso the woollen trousers o the Archologisches

Landesmuseum Schloss Gottor collection. Areplica was made o the Thorsberg trousers(inv. FS ) afer the drawing published byHald.Trying to fit these t rousers, it appearedimpossible or the model to get his leg into thetrousers. The circumerence o his instep-heelwas too big. Hald did not mention the very im-portant detail on the inside-leg seams, namelyseveral small cords with which to close theseseams (fig. ).In other words these trousersalso have an open seam on the calves.

So again the method o pattern-cutting,with one big rectangular part orming thetrouser-legs, dictates that it is impossible toclose this seam on the calves (otherwise therectangular should be extremely wide), giventhat the trousers are made o linen which doesnot stretch at all. The trousers are open on thecalves by necessity.

The fitting of the trousers

Unortunately no inormation survived aboutthe provenance o the trousers belonging to


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fig. Detail of the replica of the Katoen Natie trousers:closing of the slit on the calves with st raps. Photo Anne Kwaspen

fig. Closing straps on the inside-leg seam of theThorsberg trousers FS . Collection Archologisches Landesmuseum der StifungSchleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottor. Photo Anne Kwaspen

G/C-S , . Non published inormation obtained by correspond-

ence with Barbara Czaja-Szewczak, or which I warm-ly thank her.

G/C-S , . Non published inormation obtained by correspond-

ence with Barbara Czaja-Szewczak, or which I warm-ly thank her. G/C-S , .

models have totally different total lengths.Model A (fig. )measures cm, Model B(fig. ) cm. Both models indicated that thetrousers elt quite comortable.

For comparison: Model C (fig. )has acrotch-oot length o cm. Looking primarilyat the starting point o the opening in the back,it can be deduced that this person is too tall or

the trousers.

The replica o the pair o trousers rom the Mu-se du Louvre was tr ied on by several children.Model D (fig. )is an eleven year old with acrotch-oot length o cm. She is already a littletoo tall or these trousers. The eight years oldmodel E (fig. )with a crotch-oot length o cm fits the trousers better, but probably the per-ect crotch-oot length would be cm. Fromthese measurements can be concluded thatthese trousers were probably made or a child.

The breeches o the Museum KunstPalast were first tried on by model C (fig. ),the slim boy that also tred on the Damendortrousers. But he could not get his leg into thetrousers; the circumerence o his knee wastoo big or the opening o the underside o thetrouser-leg.

I ound another extremely thin per-son, model F (fig. ),crotch-oot length o

cm and a total length o cm. She fitted thetrousers. But on the other hand children, too,

as the linen trousers rom the present study. B.Czaja-Szewczak comments:The linen pantsdemonstrated an exceptional design. The legswere narrowed towards the bottom and hadvertical vents at the back o the ankles, thebottom edges tied together with straps. Thisallowed the pant leg to be fitted to the cal andcomortably set into high boots. There werebelt carriers sewn to the waistband, holding aleather belt. The leather belt, cm wide, didnot survive in its entiret y.

The description in the articleurthergives an interesting image o the clothes worntogether with the trousers. For his burial thedeceased was dressed in three long-sleevedshort linen tunics reaching below the hip. Thelinen outer tunic has applied woollen decora-tion on the sleeves, the shoulders, the neck

opening and on the vertical slit in the ront.The sleeves are separately woven parts, sewnto the body o the tunic.

On his eet the deceased wore longtabby woven linen stockings with yellow eltedwoollen soles and over that leather boots.

From pictures o details o the trousersand inormation obtained rom Czaja-Szewc-zak the way in which the straps on the ankleswere tied could be reconstructed: the straps

first cross at the back and are then pulled,together with the corners/edges o the backsplits, to the ront. On the ront the straps crossagain over the abric o the trouser-leg beoregoing again to the back to be tied just aboveankle height (fig. ).

To get an idea o who could have wornthe linen trousers studied here, replicas weremade o the our examples. The replicas aremade in a supple new linen abric (tabbyweave, warp threads/cm, wef threads/cm). This experiment cannot give an answerabout the gender or age o the wearer, noteven the total length o the person. But it givesan image about the ideal inside-leg length(crotch-oot), and a suggestion o the age thatmatches that length nowadays.

This becomes clear already with thefitting o the replica o the trousers rom Ka-toen Natie. Both models on the pictures havea crotch-oot length o cm. The trousers fit

them well. The opening o the back-split juststarts at the hollow o their knees. Yet these


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Age: adultWaist: cmWaist-Foot: cmCrotch-Foot: cm

Age:

Waist: cmWaist-Foot: cmCrotch-Foot: cm

Age: Waist: cmWaist-Foot: cmCrotch-Foot: cm

Age:



Age: adultWaist: cmWaist-Foot: cmCrotch-Foot: cm

Age:



Age:



T - L A I

fig. Model A,B,C: fitting of the replica of the KatoenNatie trousers; model D, E: fitting of the replicaof the Louvre trousers. Photos Anne Kwaspen

N , . D M/V-L/V ,

, . B , .

We thank Mark van Strydonck and Mathieu Boudinrom the Royal Institute or Cultural Heritage in Brus-sels.

Years BP: +/- (KI A-). % probability: . % probability: The radiocarbon dating o Louvre AF

showed the ollowing results:Years BP: +/ (KIA-). % probability: . % probability:

Apparently there was not much difference inthe dating o the two pairs. I we assume thatboth were made at the same time we can calcu-late their mean dating.

The result is as ollows:Years BP: +/. % probability: . % probability:

This shows a closer dating or the trousers; thedifference (. % probability) between the

earliest and latest date was years, whereas itwas years or the individual trousers.

models G (fig. )and model H (fig. ),withcrotch-oot length o cm and cm fit thesetrousers well.

Nockertsuggested that the small pairo trousers rom Halabiye would fit a present-day six years old. Model I, years old and acrotch-oot length o cm (fig. ),seemsalready a bit too tall or the replica o thesetrousers. Model J is our years old and has acrotch-oot length o cm (fig. ).For her thetrousers came right down to the ankle.

Radiocarbon dating of two pairsof linen trousers

A radiocarbon dating o two pairs o linentrousers rom Katoen Natie (inv. KTN )and the Muse du Louvre (inv. AF ) wasperormed.

The radiocarbon dating o KTN was as ollows:


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Age:



Age:


Age:



Age:



Age:


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fig. Model C, F, G, H: fitting of the replica of theMuseum KunstPalast trousers; model I, J: fittingof the replica of the t rousers. Photos Anne Kwaspen

tailor or cutter confidently placed or omittedseams depending on the abrics that wereavailable.

ConclusionThe study o the pattern-cut ting o the ourpairs o linen t rousers dating rom the ththcenturies shows that they were constructedaccording to the same pr inciple. Trousers orchildren have the same basic cut as trousersor adults. At first sight it seems to us, w ith animage in mind o modern tailored trousers, aspecial and particularly complex cut. But star t-ing rom the limited knowledge o tailoringthat was current in Egypt in the Late Antiquity,it appears that the cut o the trousers is verylogically put together, only using very simpleorms as pattern pieces.

Presumably all our pairs were maderom recycled abrics. This could be an indi-cation that they were homemade instead omade by a specialized workshop. The basic

principle behind the tailoring o these trou-sers was certainly well-known, since the

I would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Huts o Katoen Natie or theopportunity to work on this study. I would like to thank my col-leagues or their support and my proound thanks go to ChrisVerhecken-Lammens who encouraged me and accompaniedme to the different museums to analyse the trousers. I wouldlike to thank Dominique Bnazeth o Muse du Louvre,Barbara Til and Arne Leopold o Stifung Museum KunstPalast,and Dr. Ingrid Ulbricht and Gabriele Zink o ArchologischesLandesmuseum der Stifung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landes-museen Schloss Gottor or the possibility to have a closelook at the trousers o their collections. I wish also to express

my thanks to Pro. Wodzimierz Godlewski, Polish Centero Mediterranean Archaeology o Warsaw University andBarbara Czaja-Szewczak o Wilanw Palace Museum and thePolish Center o Mediterranean Archaeology or their valuableinormation on the trousers o Naqlun.

kwaspen linen trousers artikel

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