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Volume 8
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Let the Lead Tags Talk—Terms on Carnuntum Tesserae Referring to Textiles, Colours and Dyeing in the 2nd Century CE

by
Regina Hofmann-de Keijzer
1,*,
Ivan Radman-Livaja
2,
Ines Bogensperger
3,
Andreas G. Heiss
4 and
Beatrix Petznek
5
1
Independent Researcher. Formerly at the Department of Archaeometry, University of Applied Arts Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria
2
Archaeological Museum Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
3
Papyrus Collection of the Austrian National Library, 1010 Vienna, Austria
4
Austrian Archaeological Institute (OeAI) at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), 1010 Vienna, Austria
5
Independent Researcher, 2460 Bruck an der Leitha, Austria
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Heritage 2025, 8(10), 412; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8100412
Submission received: 22 July 2025 / Revised: 2 September 2025 / Accepted: 2 September 2025 / Published: 1 October 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dyes in History and Archaeology 43)
Review Reports Versions Notes

Abstract

In the Roman Empire, lead tags were used for various purposes, one of which was to label textiles that needed cleaning, repairing or dyeing. So far, these tesserae have been found at over 90 sites in 13 Roman provinces. The cities of Siscia and Carnuntum in Pannonia Superior have the highest number of finds. In 2011, a Roman cesspit was excavated in the civil city of Carnuntum and dated to the mid-2nd century CE. The latrine contained household and food waste, human faeces, pottery shards, pollen, lime, amber and 179 lead tags. The tags bear inscriptions consisting of personal names, prices, and abbreviations of terms relating to garments, colours and services such as cleaning, mending, repairing, fulling, fumigating, perfuming, dyeing, and redyeing. The findings of Roman textiles unearthed in Carnuntum are too degraded to allow a successful dye analysis to be carried out. Therefore, the inscriptions are important sources for drawing conclusions about dyeing materials and techniques. This information was supplemented by ancient written sources as well as archaeobotanical finds of dye plants and dye analyses of archaeological textiles found in Central Europe dating from the same period or earlier.
Keywords: Carnuntum; Roman cesspit; lead tesserae; colours; fullonica; textile services; ancient written sources; textile dyeing; dyes Carnuntum; Roman cesspit; lead tesserae; colours; fullonica; textile services; ancient written sources; textile dyeing; dyes

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Hofmann-de Keijzer, R.; Radman-Livaja, I.; Bogensperger, I.; Heiss, A.G.; Petznek, B. Let the Lead Tags Talk—Terms on Carnuntum Tesserae Referring to Textiles, Colours and Dyeing in the 2nd Century CE. Heritage 2025, 8, 412. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8100412

AMA Style

Hofmann-de Keijzer R, Radman-Livaja I, Bogensperger I, Heiss AG, Petznek B. Let the Lead Tags Talk—Terms on Carnuntum Tesserae Referring to Textiles, Colours and Dyeing in the 2nd Century CE. Heritage. 2025; 8(10):412. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8100412

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hofmann-de Keijzer, Regina, Ivan Radman-Livaja, Ines Bogensperger, Andreas G. Heiss, and Beatrix Petznek. 2025. "Let the Lead Tags Talk—Terms on Carnuntum Tesserae Referring to Textiles, Colours and Dyeing in the 2nd Century CE" Heritage 8, no. 10: 412. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8100412

APA Style

Hofmann-de Keijzer, R., Radman-Livaja, I., Bogensperger, I., Heiss, A. G., & Petznek, B. (2025). Let the Lead Tags Talk—Terms on Carnuntum Tesserae Referring to Textiles, Colours and Dyeing in the 2nd Century CE. Heritage, 8(10), 412. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8100412

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