Mary Spanos - Anthropological Textiles


Anthropological research of textiles involves the systematic and quantitative analysis of textiles and textile-related artifacts to search for a more inclusive understanding, based in cultural relativism, of the role of textiles in culture.

Mary Spanos offers contract services for research, artifact analysis, consultation, and publication in the field of anthropological textiles. She contributes a diverse skill-set to the discipline, from decades of research into all phases of textile production, formal training in quantitative research methods, experience in the creation of replica textiles for public anthropology, and professional experience in publishing.

About the image at right (photo by Michael Spanos): The University of South Alabama museum is open! The Woodland diarama includes the figures of a grandmother and her granddaughter on Mobile Bay, both are wearing twined cloth skirts. The grandmother is also wearing a twined cloth mantle and twined shoes. For more about the creation of textiles based on archaeological artifacts, see the USA Museum Project page.