Headdress

This double-tailed head covering is made from fine, undyed linen, with five dyed maroon-brown wool stripes across the head. It was woven in one piece using the sprang technique, in which the fibers are twisted together to create an openwork pattern. In this example, the linen weave is elaborate, with a fine mesh and a complex design. The tails were made after the fabric was created by removing the center pair of warps up to the chaining line, then knotting the remaining loose pair of warps. The darker wool yarn was braided into the linen threads and extended back from the forehead for about ten inches, after which the woolen yarns were spliced into the linen threads.

Although this head covering is unprovenanced, other examples have been found on the heads of mummified women and children of the Roman and Late Antique periods. It would have been worn with the round section over the crown of the head, and the long tails wrapped around the head and tied together.