Textile Project
The Anthropology Department and the Avenir Conservation Center are engaged in a multiyear project to better understand the textiles in the Anthropology collection at DMNS. This project takes a holistic approach to the study and analysis of archaeological, historical, and contemporary textiles from the Americas. The museum’s collection of textiles and weavings provides a unique opportunity to better understand the histories of material, technical, and symbolic exchanges linking South, Central, and North America throughout history. The project’s temporal and geographic framework unifies these collection areas, time periods, and disciplinary perspectives that often remain separate in museum collections, seeking to reevaluate the intercultural relationships and transcontinental trade networks that have existed for thousands of years. Through textiles, this project develops new ways of conceptualizing globalization, the perceived distinctions between art and craft, and the productive relationship between conservation, curation, and originating and descendant communities.
Research is focusing on several geographical regions. These include Archaeological textiles from Peru, 20th Century Peruvian Garments, Huipiles, Rio Grande Hispano and Pueblo Textiles, and Diné Textiles.
Highlights of the project so far included:
Dine Dress Rejoining. Esteemed Diné weaver Lynda Teller Peter worked with curatorial and conservation staff at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to rejoin two previously separated panels of a biil’éé (Diné two-panel dress), which were originally collected by donors Mary and Francis Crane. This rejoining was the first time a two-panel dress in a museum collection has been rejoined and was done during an Avenir Conservation Center “Conservation in Action” event.
AMS Dating. This project seeks to understand the age of textiles in DMNS collection using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating. AMS dating is a destructive technique that measures the relative ratios of C12 and C14 in samples. The relative ratios of these carbon isotopes indicate the age of a sample.
CT scans. This project focuses on understanding the construction techniques of 9 textiles in DMNS’s collection. CT (computerized tomography) scanning is a non-destructive method for visualizing the internal structure of specimens. CT scans allow textile staff to analyze and compare the internal structure of textiles. Textiles selected for this analysis include 2 Chancay Dolls, 1 Nazca doll, 2 tumplines, and several Nazca woven bands.
Purple Dyes. This project seeks to understand the dyes that were used to create purple pigments on 12 textiles. This project utilizes several methods to access purple dyes, including Multiband Imaging, FTIR, and other methods.
Stable Isotopes. This project assesses the origins of fiber to understand trade relationships. Stable carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotope compositions within an animal’s bones, teeth, and fur/hair reflect the average isotopic compositions of an animal’s diet over the course of time that those tissues formed For wool bearing animals such as llama, alpacas, and sheep the C and N compositions are determined by the plants the animal consumes. Differences in the relative ratios between C and N, can give a general sense of where the animals were living at the time their fur was harvested. For instance, this technique identifies if camelid wool originated in the highland or lowland area of the Andes. We focus on textiles from 20th century Peru, as well as Peruvian archaeological textiles.
Archival Research. To understand how these textiles came to be in Denver, we research the stories of trade and growth of extractive industries, and the development of Denver. Appropriate documents from anthropology files are being digitized including archaeological and 20th century Peruvian textiles, specifically focusing on donations from Giesecke, The Ahrens Memorial collection, and specific collectors.
