Tunics

Qasr al-Yahud, situated on the west bank of the Jordan River, 5 miles north of the Dead Sea and east of Jericho, features the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, believed to be the traditional site of the Baptism of Jesus1 and has a centuries-long tradition of ‘washing of the lepers’. Byzantine and Medieval authors attributed
the waters of the Jordan river a special power to heal lepers who bathed in them,
especially at the spot where Jesus was baptized. One piece of evidence for this comes
from Gregory of Tour, who visited the site in the sixth century CE.
After the site became sacred, traditions developed that were associated with the holy  eatures of the water and its curative properties. When the emperor Constantius became ill, he asked to bath in the Jordan. The pilgrim Felix Fabri, from the end of the fifteenth century, described the prayers conducted by pilgrims on the banks of the river, dipped in the waters dressed in special clothing brought particularly for this purpose. Today ceremonies attended by thousands of people are
Performed.
In 1983 a rescue excavation was carried out at Qasr al-Yahud by the anthropologist Joe Zias.
A mass grave of around 300 men, women and children was discovered at the site, 90% of which had been destroyed by road construction: thirty-four skeletons, however, were retrieved, probably representing a hospital population with cases of tuberculosis, leprosy and facial disfigurement. Such individuals travelled enormous distances, attracted to the site in the hope of washing away their illness. 
Anthropological evidence indicates that the individuals were probably Egyptian in origin, while structural analysis of the skulls proved that some were Nubian. They were buried in a Christian manner, lying on their backs, facing the rising sun.
Some of the burial customs at this site, such as placing seeds from the Egyptian Balsam tree (Balanites Aegyptiaca) in the hands of the deceased, conform to Egyptian traditions.
The arid climate of the Judean Desert helped to preserve 250 textiles and a few cords, among them many examples comprising two different textiles or more sewn together or patched one on another. The preservation of the material is fairly good, though some was damaged by bodily fluids. Radiocarbon dating of the textiles
placed the date in the eighth to ninth centuries (787–877 CE).       
The textiles are made of linen and cotton, sometimes decorated with wool tapestry, brocade and selfbands. They include many cut-to-shape tunics except one which is woven-to-shape, head coverings, bandages and shrouds.
This research combines historic sources, anthropological and botanic evidence, burial practices with the textiles.
The material is of great importance because it gives us idea about the burial costumes used by Christians at the late Islamic period. In addition, those are the only textiles from this period found in Israel.

Studies of the ancient crafts and technologies are always challenging for scholars. Despite wealth and abundance of materials the studies of Late Antique archaeological textile techniques are in the formation. Type and appearance of the Late Antique Egyptian loom for tunics are among the most widely discussed topics. With this in view we consider important to observe some aspects of Egyptian Late Antique textile techniques, particularly, to study some peculiarities of tunic’s weaving. Based on the results of latest archaeological finds from Deir al-Banat necropolis we propose reconstruction of the loom used for tunics’ weaving. As a working hypothesis we suggest that most of the wool Late Antique tunics from Deir al-Banat necropolis were made on the vertical loom with two beams. This type of loom developed in Egypt during New Kingdom time and was adopted in Late Antiquity for tunics’ weaving. The width of this loom could be rather large (not less than
280 cm). This width demands quite extensive use of the working force (4 weavers for one tunic) for the weaving of the body of the tunic (average working area of one craftsman is about 60 cm). The appearance of the Roman tunic in Egypt did not let to adaptation of the vertical weight loom. New type of tunic most probably was made on local vertical loom with two beams with some changes in weaving techniques.

Textiles from Egypt and the Near-East have been studied mainly for their technique, more rarely from a typological and iconographical viewpoint, without any general interpretative background. The particular religious literature and tendency (I-IV sec. d.C.) has an influence about textiles decorations of the coptic tunica. Here the coptic tunica is studied under various aspects: significance, symbolism, decorative system, figurative representations, once it is considered beside the cultural and religious background of its time.