Journal of Anthropology and Archaeology

Traditional manufacture of hemp and hop textiles: Why botany and agronomy matter
Git Skoglund

Abstract
Documentation of household textile plant cultivation is sparse and has been largely overlooked in textile research. This is especially true with hemp (Cannabis) and hop (Humulus). Existing references were rarely written by the growers themselves, and this has contributed to misunderstandings regarding the terminology of plant gender and fibre identity. By contrast, sources concerning those plants as highly valued economic plants of commerce are much more extensive but cannot be reliably applied to household production. Cultivation in small fields such as kitchen gardens combined with manual methods made it possible to extract extremely fine fibres, although yields were lower because only hemp and hop male plants were used to produce fine textiles. Topics covered include botanical factors, manual fibre extraction strategies, and the differences between household and commercial production.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jaa.v9n1a1