03-2024, tome 121, 1, p. 63-83 - Vaquer J., Aymé R. (2024) - Les Agals, Villarzel-Cabardès (Aude) : un nouveau jalon pour la connaissance de l'artisanat textile au Néolithique en Languedoc

Les Agals, Villarzel-Cabardès (Aude)  :

un nouveau jalon pour la connaissance

de l'artisanat textile au Néolithique en Languedoc

Jean Vaquer, Régis Aymé

Résumé  : Le site des Agals qui a été détruit par un labour profond a livré des vestiges typiques du Néolithique final vérazien datables du 3e millénaire avant notre ère. Le mobilier recueilli en surface comporte deux éléments assez rares relevant de problématiques distinctes qui nous ont paru justifier des analyses et d'établir des comparaisons dans une zone de compréhension plus étendue.

Le premier est un tesson de fond de récipient ayant conservé une croûte carbonisée qu'il a été possible d'analyser en chimie organique et qui a révélé un caramel de cuisson comportant des résidus de plusieurs sortes de préparations alimentaires (cf annexe de N. Garnier). Il s'agit de corps gras d'animaux, de viande, de produits laitiers, de traces d'huiles végétales ou de graines broyées, des traces de légumes feuilles et des boissons fermentées de fruits de Rosacées autres que la pomme. C'est un premier pas dans la connaissance des pratiques culinaires et de l'alimentation au Néolithique en zone nord occidentale de la Méditerranée.

Le second élément remarquable est un poids de métier à tisser en argile cuite qui appartient au type réniforme ou en croissant. Il dénote l'utilisation d'un type de poids tendant en même temps les deux nappes de fils de chaîne et ayant pu fonctionner par basculement. Ce dispositif se caractérise d'abord par une économie de moyen qui a pu être appréciable : le métier vertical à poids permet de se passer d'une barre de lisse par rapport au métier horizontal et le peson allongé à attache bipolaire divise par deux le nombre de modules à mettre en place au bas du métier. Un autre avantage par rapport aux pesons à mode de suspension unique et centré a pu concerner les productions. Les dispositifs à pesons compacts et à attache centrée ont pu servir à la fois pour des réalisations d'étoffes cordées et des tissus sur des métiers à deux rangs de poids. Les pesons à système d'attache bipolaire autorisaient l'enchevêtrement automatique des nappes pour des tissages en armures diverses (toile et sergé) d'après les expérimentations faites par A. W. Lassen. Cet avantage technique aurait permis l'adoption de ce type de peson à partir de la fin du 5e millénaire avant notre ère en Italie, puis sa généralisation sous des formes diverses au 4e millénaire au nord des Alpes et dans le Midi de la France et au 3e  millénaire dans la péninsule Ibérique.

Mots-clés  : Néolithique final, Vérazien, caramel alimentaire, étoffes cordées et tissus, poids de métier à tisser, peson réniforme ou en croissant, armure toile, armure sergé.

Abstract: The Agals site, that was destroyed by deep ploughing, yielded remains typical vestiges of the late Neolithic Verazien style dating from the 3rd millennium BC. The artefacts collected on the surface include two rather rare elements addressing  two separate issues that justify analyses and set comparisons in a wider area of understanding.

The first is a pot bottom potsherd that has retained a charred crust that has been analyzed in organic chemistry and reveals  residues of several kinds of food preparations (Annex by Nicolas Garnier). These include fats from animals, meat, dairy products, traces of vegetable oils or crushed seeds, traces of leafy vegetables and fermented beverages from Rosaceae fruits, other than apples. It is a first step in the knowledge of culinary practices and food in the Neolithic in the north-western area of the Mediterranean.

The second remarkable element is a cooked clay loom weight that belongs to the kidney-shaped or crescentic type. It denotes the adoption of a mode of operation by rocking of weights tending the two layers of the warp threads and authorizing the weaving of fabrics with plain weave, or even with more complex canvas according to the experiments made by A. W. Lassen or by K. Grömer. A survey was carried out to find out when and how this kind of crescentic weights appeared and developed in the north western Mediterranean. Generally speaking, cooked clay loom weights are attested to in the Neolithic but they are infrequent and come in various forms and weights. The oldest were found in peninsular Italy in cardial-epicardial context in the 6th millennium BCE and in context Diana, Ripoli, VBQ in the 5th millennium BCE. These are center suspension system weights that could be used in a single row for twining fabrics or in two rows for plain weave fabrics.  The first crescentic loom weights or increasing to two opposite suspension systems appeared in northern Italy towards the end of the 5th millennium and developed amply at the beginning of the 4th millennium in the Po valley in Lagozza culture contexts, but also in the Southern of France in the recent Chasséen and even north of the Alps during late Neolithic. They coexisted with other types of loom weights until the end of the late Neolithic, as the example of the Agals proves. In the Iberian Peninsula the loom weights of cooked clay are known in the south from the end of the 4th millennium first in the form of weights in centered suspension mode and then, in the 3rd millennium in the form of elongated weights with opposite double perforations (“cuernecillos”). Some crescent shapes are known, but most are rectangular or shaped horns very arched and very narrow, which gives them a certain originality. We can link them to some fabric finds that are linen and plain weave canvas.

The loom weight of Agals datable during the first half of the 3rd millennium BCE is part of the group of loom weights whose opposite apical perforations allowed to stretch the wires of the two layers (even and odd wires) of the warp on the same weights arranged in line at the base of the loom.

This system is characterized first of all by an economy of means which could have been appreciable : the vertical weight loom saves a bar of rails compared to the horizontal loom and the elongated bipolar load cell halves the number of modules to be installed at the base of the loom. Another advantage over the single-mode and centered load cells may have been the productions. The devices with compact scales and centred fasteners could be used both for making rope fabrics and fabrics on two-tier looms. The scales with bipolar fastening system allowed the automatic entanglement of the tablecloths for weaves in various armor (canvas and twill) according to the experiments made by A. W. Lassen.

These advantages can make it possible to better understand the adoption of this kind of loom weight not only in the late Neolithic in Italy but also in the South of France and their enormous success in the southern Iberian Peninsula during the late Neolithic and Chalcolithic. It is therefore possible to envisage that fabrics with twill weave canvas or chevron patterns and diamond points appeared long before protohistory as is generally envisaged.

Keywords: late Neolithic, Verazien, food caramel, twining fabrics and plain weave fabrics, loom weight, kidney shaped or crescentic loom weights, canvas weave, twining, twill weave.