Nalbinding Socks from Late Roman Egypt (3rd 7th CE)

The collection of Textiles and Fashion at the Royal Ontario Museum Toronto is full of surprises: It holds eleven late Roman socks that were excavated in Egypt and acquired by the museum in the early 20th century. It s the world s largest collection of late Roman socks in the Tarim stitch (coptic stitch), a special nalbinding stitch. In November 2016, the Veronika Gervers Research Fellowship made it possible to invite textile archaeologist Barbara Köstner M. A. (Bonn, Germany) to study these fascinating objects dating from 3rd to 7th century AD.