3,500-Year-Old Hittite Linen will Be Brought to the Textile Industry with the Initiative of Women
The approximately 3,500-year-old piece of linen fabric found in the archaeological excavation in the ancient city of Şapinuva will be reproduced and brought to the textile industry within the scope of the social responsibility project developed by the Çorum Businesswomen Association.
It is planned that the approximately 3,500-year-old piece of linen fabric found in the archaeological excavation in the Ancient City of Şapinuva in the Ortaköy district of Çorum, one of the important cities of the Hittites, will be reproduced and brought to the textile industry within the scope of the social responsibility project developed by the Çorum Businesswomen Association (İŞKAD).
Within the scope of the project, which was implemented with the slogan “The new tale of the old world”, the fabric called ‘Hittite linen’, inspired by approximately 3,500-year-old linen fabric, was introduced at a press conference held at the historical Velipaşa Inn.
At the press conference, clothes designed from ‘Hittite linen’ fabric and featuring Hittite figures were exhibited in a fashion show prepared by the members of the Theater Fourth Wall.
In her speech at the meeting, ISKAD President Semrin Kaleli said that during their visit to the ancient city of Şapinuva, they were aware of the fabric while chatting with the head of the excavation at the time, Professor Aygül Süel, and that they developed a business idea for the fabric, which has a brand value of thousands of years.
Stating that they developed the new fabric they called ‘Hittite linen’ in a fabric design workshop in Denizli by determining the weaving technique of the found fabric and the material used, Kaleli stated that they have completed the trademark registration process for the new product and that the work for the registration of geographical indications continues.
Kaleli said, “The weft and warp of this fabric, that is, the recipe, have been registered by us. Thus, Çorum now has a linen, Hittite linen.”
Kaleli emphasized that they will establish a weaving workshop for the production of the new fabric in Çorum, where they aim to provide job opportunities for women and to export a product from Çorum abroad.
Çorum Deputy Mayor İsmail Yağbat stated that women will be trained in linen fabric weaving with the weaving workshop to be established in Velipaşa Mansion.
Hittite Fabric Found 28 Year Ago
Professor Aygül Süel, the head of the excavation at the time, emphasized that she was happy that the piece of fabric they found by chance inspired a business idea 28 years later.
Underlining that it is a miraculous situation that a fabric is found after 3,500 years, Süel explained that the piece of fabric used to cover the cubes used in a warehouse was carefully taken from the place where it was found and examined at the Middle East Technical University and Ankara University, and it was scientifically proven that the fabric was linen.
Süel added that it is understood from the tablets that the use of flax was widespread in the Hittites.
