French Hemp (Chanvre) Plant Fiber Research
- Skoglund & Clarke
- Feb 5
- 2 min read
Today, when new Internet tools like AI are increasingly used, they can generate many factual errors and misunderstandings. When it comes to textile materials it is even more important to reach out with concrete research results, not only identifying which fibers textiles are made of, but also geographically placing where the fibers were grown. In this context, we would like to share one of Skoglund's latest scientific papers that highlights the importance of analyzing plant textiles, in this case a hemp fabric preserved in Iceland. The cloth itself was likely woven in the late 16th century or early 17th century, but recent isotope analysis revealed that the hemp fibers were grown in France (likely Brittany) or possibly Scotland.
"First strontium isotope analysis of a heritage hemp fabric in Iceland"
By Git Skoglund & Carlo Monti. Link to full access:
Brittany produced both finer and coarser hemp fabrics from the Middle Ages until the beginning of the 20th century, which were also exported in large quantities. The reason why the region maintained its hemp production for so long was partly the unusually large number of small farms, where hemp was grown together with other crops in garden environments. This contrasts with most Central European countries that by this time had switched to large-scale agriculture of single crops, which meant that the more time-consuming hemp cultivation and processing had disappeared from smaller farms.
One contributing factor that we know much more about hemp in France is that the fabrics are not named with the collective term linen (cloth made of plant fiber), instead "chanvre" cloth, which has its origin from Cannabis.
European household textiles of hemp were produced in gardens, close to houses, from which the hemp stalks (male plants) were manually harvested, retted and prepared by hand before the fibers were sold to professional spinning or weaving workshops. An example of such a textile is this early 20th century household Hemp (Fr. chanvre) wine maker's apron from France, which is made of a semi-manufactured fabric that was woven in a workshop, but the hemp was grown and prepared in one of France's many homes.
Info about the apron:
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