Sock It! Introduction

Text by Charlotte Booth.

This beautiful pair of socks, dated to 400-500 AD, are the centre of this experimental archaeology project at the Petrie Museum. However they are not the only socks that have been discovered, and there is another one in the Museum collection which was discovered inside out.


Examination of the socks has enabled us to identify how they were constructed. All the tools needed are found in the Petrie collection. We will be using the same tools (where possible) to create our socks over the coming months.

(The inside out sock)
In the absence of any pictorial evidence of carding of raw fleece, we have to look at what would do the job from the evidence we have. There is a large intricately decorated comb in the Coptic Museum in Cairo but for the smaller wool producer a comb such as this would be perfect.

Numerous drop spindles have been discovered in Egypt from the Middle Kingdom onwards in varying sizes for the production of different thicknesses of wool, and perhaps for children to become involved.

Hundreds of needles have been discovered and there are many in the Petrie collection, which look like any in our sewing boxes at home. It is with one of these that we will be creating our Coptic socks!

www.charlottesegypt.com www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk

Public Schedule

Saturday 31st October (pre-book only) 11.00 – 1.30pm
Overview of knitting and socks in ancient Egypt (40 min talk)
Museum tour (15 minutes)
Introduction to carding, spinning and knitting technique (45 mins)

Saturday 28th November (Public drop in) 11.30 – 1.30pm
Today we go spinning – using wool carded at the last session as well as some of the pre-carded wool. We will try out two methods – rolling along the thigh and free spinning. There will be a brief introductory session to recap on 31 October!

Saturday 30th January (Public drop in) 11.30 – 1.30pm
This session sees us examine the socks more closely and start knitting. We will concentrate on knitting ‘in the round’ to get the sock shape and create a practice piece, before moving onto make rectangular pieces and start the sock if we are ready.

Saturday 27th February (Public drop in) 11.30 – 1.30pm
This session sees us examine the socks more closely and carry on knitting. We will re-cap on knitting ‘in the round’ to get the sock shape and making the rectangular pieces and then start / continue the sock.

Saturday 27th March (Public drop in) 11.30 – 1.30pm
The launch of the finalised sock patterns and a presentation of the project. We will compare the original Coptic socks with those produced by the participants.



Book the 31 October 2009 session with Debbie Challis / d.challis@ucl.ac.uk. All the rest are drop in!

Background Information

The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology is based within the campus of Univerisity College London in Bloomsbury. The museum houses an impressive textile collection, including two-toed socks. The idea behind this project is to make a pair of socks based on those dating from c.400-500 AD in the Petrie Museum from scratch using, as far as possible, methods employed in Ancient Egypt.



It is an experimental archaeology project and, though, it will be planned, the emphasis is on the actual processes of making things and your experience on the way!

There are two groups involved in this process - the University of the Third Age and members of the public (i.e. any one who wants to be involved). The project has been funded by Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA) and it is free to come along.

We will be recording our progress as we go, so watch this space.