Overview

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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Andre J. Veldmeijer ,  Susanna Harris
Publisher:   Sidestone Press
Imprint:   Sidestone Press
Dimensions:   Width: 17.50cm , Height: 1.30cm , Length: 25.10cm
Weight:   0.259kg
ISBN:  

9789088902611

ISBN 10:   9088902615
Pages:   135
Publication Date:   16 September 2014
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction. Leather in Archaeology; Between material properties, materiality and technological choices Susanna Harris Chapter 2. Skin deep: An outline of the structure of different skins and how it influences behaviour in use. A practitioner's guide Amanda Michel Chapter 3. Cuir bouilli armour Eddie Cheshire Chatper 4. Bespoke vellum: Some unusual requests Laura Youngson Coll Chapter 5. Leather in the textile industry- A memoir Alan S. Raistrick Chapter 6. Why Leather in ancient Egyptian chariots? AndreJ. Veldmeijer & Salima Ikram Chapter 7. Why wineskins? The exploration of a relationship between wine and a skin container Barbara Wills& Amanda Watts

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Author Information

Andre J. Veldmeijer (assistant director for Egyptology at the Netherlands Flemish Institute 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. His second PhD, on the archaeology of footwear, is planned for the next four years.

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