The query for single motifs

By choosing a single motif from the scrolling lists in fields: ‘Anastasiadou’s motifs’, ‘CMS motifs’ and ‘Textile motifs’, and pressing the ‘Find’ button, all seals bearing the chosen motif on one or more of their faces will be displayed as results. The results represent the number of seals in the T&S database bearing this particular motif.

The query for multiple motifs

It is possible to search for multiple motifs in one query by adding more motifs from the scrolling lists in fields: ‘Anastasiadou’s motifs’, ‘CMS motifs’ and ‘Textile motifs’, and pressing the ‘Find’ button. For example, if a ‘Waterfowl [26]’ motif in ‘Anastasiadou’s motifs’ and ‘Loom weights’ in ‘Textile motifs’ fields are chosen together, all seals bearing depictions of ‘Waterfowls’ and ‘Loom weights’ on one or more of their faces will be displayed as query results.

Choosing motifs in the ‘Textile motifs’ field

Problematic identifications of textile production-related motifs appear in the scrolling list in the ‘Textile motifs’ field with an adverb ‘possibly’, e.g., Possibly ‘woolly animal’, Possibly ‘spindle with whorl’. Therefore, a query for all possible depictions of ‘woolly animals’ is multiple and requires choosing two motifs: ‘Woolly animals’ + Possibly ‘woolly animals’. Each record denoted by a more specific keyword in the ‘Textile motifs’ field, such as e.g., ‘Sheep’, ‘Goat’, ‘Lamb’, etc., is always tagged by a more general keyword, here: ‘Woolly’ or Possibly ‘woolly animal’.

The query with ‘OR instead of AND’ option

The ‘AND’ conjunction is chosen automatically for multiple queries in ‘motifs’ and ‘stylistic dating’ fields. For example, if the ‘Loom weights’ and ‘Spider’ motifs are chosen in the ‘Textile motifs’ field, the results will show all seals with ‘Loom weights’ ‘AND’ ‘Spiders’ depicted on one or more faces of a single seal (9 results). By choosing an inclusive disjunction ‘OR’, the query will show all seals with ‘Loom weights’ ‘OR’ ‘Spiders’ depicted on one or more faces of all seals in the T&S database (162 results).

Further pre-defining of query results

Queries can be predefined by choosing a site in the ‘Site’ field (single choice from the scrolling list) or an abbreviation of a chronological period in the ‘Stylistic dating’ field (multiple choice from the scrolling list). The fields ‘Contains script sign’, ‘Sealing’, ‘Sealings with textile impressions on the underside’ and ‘Tools with textile impressions‘ provide ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ options. For example, by choosing ‘Yes’ in ‘Contains script sign’ and ‘Sealing’ fields, the results will display all sealings (i.e. lumps of clay impressed with a seal or seals) recorded in the T&S database that were impressed with a seal or seals bearing one or more script signs.

The site names in the ‘Site’ field indicate the object’s find spot according to the information published in the CMS volumes and Arachne. Scrolling names refer to a specific site (e.g. ‘Knossos’, ‘Dendra’) or broader geographic areas, if the exact find spot of the object is not known (e.g. ‘Lasithi’, ‘Eastern Crete’). Question marks indicate uncertain provenance (e.g. ‘Gournia?’ or ‘Central Crete?’). ‘Unknown’ signifies that the object’s provenance is not known.

Exporting query results

All query results can be exported to an Excel file by pressing the ‘Export’ button. The exported file contains a table comprising searched records, i.e. seals or sealings with ‘textile motifs’. Records are referred to by table cells corresponding to the fields in the ‘T&S’ database: A=‘Object reference’; B=‘Arachne link or bibliographic reference’; C=‘Site’, D=‘Seal face a’; E=‘Seal face b’; F=‘Seal face c’; etc. Cells with ‘Seal faces’ list all ‘textile motifs’ recognised on a respective single face of the recorded seal. If there are more ‘textile motifs’ on a single seal face, the listed motifs are separated by commas, e.g., A=‘Object reference’: A 597; D=‘Seal face a’: ‘Comb’, ‘Comber’, ‘Loom weights’, ‘Weaver’. When the search is not predefined, the exported Excel file will contain all records from the T&S database.

Additional information

The ‘Stylistic dating’ field and chronology of the Aegean Bronze Age
A scrolling list in the ‘Stylistic dating’ filed displays abbreviations for the main chronological phases of the Aegean Bronze Age: Early Bronze Age I–III (EBA I–III: 3100/3000–2100/2050 BCE), Middle Bronze Age I–III (MBA I–III: 2100/2050–1700/1675 BCE) and Late Bronze Age I–III (LBA I–III: 1700/1675–1075/1050 BCE). Absolute dating after S.W Manning, ‘Chronology and terminology’ chapter in E. Cline (ed.) 2010 The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean, table 2.2.

Main data fields in the module Iconography of textile production

Access to individual records always requires a consent of the project leader and a log-in.

Author: A. Ulanowska