Project Description
The main objectives of the DressID project are to provide a position in cultural history for clothing and textiles in Antiquity, and to demonstrate how clothing is a key to identity studies. The interdisciplinary collaboration will strengthen the networks and exchange of knowledge and ideas of European scholars and combine various scientific traditions in Europe. The research programme is made possible with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union.
The Roman Empire
The Roman Empire forms the frame of the project. At the time of its maximum extent in the 2nd century AD, the Roman Empire incorporated the territory of most of the present-day members of the European Union, the Balkans, and the entire Mediterranean seaboard. It also had an outstretching web of diplomatic and economic relations with peoples living beyond its borders. With its richness in diverse sources — archaeological finds, images and texts — the Roman Empire provides a perfect opportunity for investigations of cultural uniformity and diversity. Its pervading political and administrative structures present an excellent platform for identity studies on all levels.
Clothing and identity
Clothing serves as a major tool for communication on a non-verbal level. It expresses relational constructions within groups, and it demonstrates affiliations or debarment as well as ethnicity, social rank, profession, gender and age. Clothing may reveal the regional origin of the bearer, present variations in local costumes, and it reflects the correlation between tradition and innovation in a highly visible way. Dress is used — consciously or unconsciously — to express identity and it carries information about the ethnic, social or religious affiliation as well as the profession, gender and age of the wearer.
Multidisciplinary research
Numerous textile experts and institutions all over Europe carry out specific investigations concerning Roman clothing on an individual basis. Within the DressID project they join an interdisciplinary programme in order to reach new insights. This multidisciplinary approach combines and includes results gained by archaeology, ancient history, and epigraphy with physical and chemical analyses as well as systematically conducted tests of tools and techniques. The investigating groups consist of researchers with various exploratory foci. It is their aim to interweave the specialists’ knowledge into a large network of information on textile questions, and to bridge the ranges of specialised knowledge in order to get a broader view and a better understanding of the social significance of clothing in the Roman world.
