A late 4th-century woman--born in Rome--buried in London wearing Chinese silk, with a pillow stuffed with Mediterranean bay leaves & a coffin scented with pistachio resin. A reminder of how global the premodern world was. #MedievalTwitterhttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/archaeology-london-spitalfields-woman-mola-b1774473.html …
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Replying to @erik_kaars
A lot of questions about that report - how can they tell it's Chinese silk (rather than say India? How can the isotopes identify her origin to an individual city? Why can't the bay leaves have been grown in Britain? 1/2
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Replying to @DavidPetts1 @erik_kaars
Fascinating stuff - but more detail needed. Is this solidly evidenced or seductive narrative?
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Replying to @DavidPetts1 @erik_kaars
I think textile historians can broadly tell manufacturer location, to my knowledge, and at that time I believe China still had a monopoly on silk production, did they not?
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as for the isotopes: I do not believe the isotopes can determine if she came from Rome unless Rome has very specific isotopes in the soil there. Chances are it just showed that she was likely from the Mediterranean area...but I guess we'll have to wait for the report.
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