[MR] BBC: Evidence for Earliest Tartan

[Groff, Garth (ggg9y)]

M'Lord Steven,

Very interesting. I'm not really up on checked cloth from other sites, though I've read mentions of it in several sources (including reference in the BBC story). Checked cloth is known from a number of cultures around the world and is a very old pattern of weave. Your story suggests the man may be a 3,000 Celt. They were once a numerous and wide-ranging people, so this seems possible. Obviously the mummy pre-dates both the Roman sculpture and the Falkirk tartan. However, it is not connected with Caledonia, and the Roman attempts at conquest of what we now know as Scotland. My interest was mainly about how the Roman sculpture and the Falkirk tartan relate to Scottish costume in our SCA period.

Thanks for calling this very interesting article to my attention. 

Yours Aye,


Mungo  

-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Chang [mailto:moondragn at gmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2012 9:25 AM
To: Groff, Garth (ggg9y)
Cc: atlantia at atlantia.sca.org
Subject: Re: [MR] BBC: Evidence for Earliest Tartan

Which one is earlier? This or
http://uyghuramerican.org/old/articles/471/1/A-meeting-of-civilisations-The-mystery-of-Chinas-celtic-mummies/A-meeting-of-civilisations-The-mystery-of-Chinas-celtic-mummies.html



On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 7:13 AM, Groff, Garth (ggg9y) <ggg9y at virginia.edu> wrote:
> Noble Friends, Especially Fellow Scots,
>
> BBC has a short story today on a Roman statue from North Africa which shows a "Caledonian" wearing tartan trews (breeches, or hosen) dating from the 3rd century CE. This closely tallies with the "Falkirk Tartan" from Scotland, a piece of checked wool cloth found as a stopper in an earthenware pot filled with 3rd century Roman coins. While neither are early evidence for the kilt (that holy grail of all Scottish wannabes that can only be dated to 1594), both prove the early existence of simple tartan cloth used as breeches or as a shoulder wrap. This statue is one more piece of evidence that justifies pre-kilt tartan for SCA re-enactors.
>
> Here's the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20579219
>
> Yours Aye,
>
>
> Lord Mungo Napier, Who Wears Tartan Mogens
>
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