It’s almost impossible to imagine that an item of clothing worn thousands of years ago has survived to the present day. But the “Tarkhan Dress,” named for the town in Egypt where it was found in 1913, has endured—and has now been precisely dated using the latest radiocarbon dating technology. Researchers have determined that the very finely made linen apparel dates to between 3482 and 3103 B.C., making it the world’s oldest woven garment. Alice Stevenson, curator at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, says, “The dress has provided people with a real sense of the antiquity and longevity of the ancient Egyptian state and society.” To read more about research on the dress, go to “Dressing for the Ages,” from the May/June 2016 issue.
Recommended Articles
Features January 1, 2011
Nondestructive Radiocarbon Dating - College Station, Texas
Precisely dating archaeological artifacts is not as easy or harmless as it might seem. The most common method, radiocarbon dating, requires that a piece of an organic object be destroyed—washed with a strong acid and base at high temperature to remove impurities, and then set aflame.
Digs & Discoveries July/August 2024
Sticking Their Necks Out
Digs & Discoveries May/June 2024
Ancient Egyptian Caregivers
-
Features January/February 2017
Top 10 Discoveries of 2016
ARCHAEOLOGY’s editors reveal the year’s most compelling finds
-
Features January/February 2017
Hoards of the Vikings
Evidence of trade, diplomacy, and vast wealth on an unassuming island in the Baltic Sea
(Gabriel Hildebrand/The Royal Coin Cabinet, Sweden) -
Features January/February 2017
Fire in the Fens
A short-lived settlement provides an unparalleled view of Bronze Age life in eastern England
(Andrew Testa/New York Times/Redux) -
Letter from Laos January/February 2017
A Singular Landscape
New technology is enabling archaeologists to explore a vast but little-studied mortuary complex in war-damaged Laos
(Jerry Redfern)