Editors’ preface

Published in Origini n. XL/2017. Rivista annuale del Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità – “Sapienza” Università di Roma | Preistoria e protostoria delle civiltà antiche – Prehistory and protohistory of ancient civilizations | In the past few years the field of archaeological textile research has witnessed a major dynamism as demonstrated by numerous conferences and publications on the topic, as well as establishment of large-scale interdisciplinary collaborative programmes, such as the Centre for Textile Research funded by the Danish National Research Foundation (2005-2015) and the pan-European project Clothing and Identities – New Perspectives on Textiles in the Roman Empire (DressID) funded by the European Union Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (2007-2012), as well as numerous ERC and Marie Curie grants. These activities demonstrate not only that the field holds great potential in elucidating many aspects of past cultures, such as economy, technology, trade, fashion and religion, but also that at the moment there is a developing energy, expertise and collaborative will to draw from.