Why Leather?: The Material and Cultural Dimensions of Leather

ISBN-13: 9789088902611 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 135 str.

Susanna Harris; Andre J. Veldmeijer

Opis

This pioneering volume brings together specialists from contemporary craft and industry and from archaeology to examine both the material properties and the cultural dimensions of leather. The common occurrence of animal skin products through time, whether vegetable tanned leather, parchment, vellum, fat-cured skins or rawhide attest to its enduring versatility, utility and desirability. Typically grouped together as 'leather', the versatility of these materials is remarkable: they can be soft and supple like a textile, firm and rigid like a basket, or hard and watertight like a pot or gourd. This volume challenges a simple utilitarian or functional approach to leather; in a world of technological and material choices, leather is appropriated according to its suitability on many levels. In addressing the question Why leather? authors of this volume present new perspectives on the material and cultural dimensions of leather. Their wide-ranging research includes the microscopic examination of skin structure and its influence on behaviour, experiments on medieval cuir bouilli armour, the guild secrets behind the leather components of nineteenth-century industrial machinery, new research on ancient Egyptian chariot leather, the relationship between wine and wineskins, and the making of contemporary leather wall covering.

O autorze

Dr. Susanna Harris is Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Glasgow. Her research focus lies on prehistoric Europe and the central Mediterranean with expertise in organic artefacts and representational art. She studies textiles, leather and basketry of the Neolithic to Bronze Age and the role of these materials in dress and identity investigated through people represented in stone, metal or ceramics. André J. Veldmeijer (Visiting Research Scholar American University in Cairo) studied archaeology at Leiden University and received his PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology from Utrecht University in 2006. He has worked in Egypt since 1995 as a leather, footwear and cordage specialist in various research projects.