Needle Item Number: 3263/75 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Two cylindrical thorn needles (parts a and b). Both are thin and black. Bottom ends are pointed, top ends are flattened and have one small hole drilled into them. Tips of the flattened ends are pointed. Smallest needle (part a) has loop of cotton thread in the eye of the needle, largest needle (part b) has no cotton thread.
The needles are similar to ones used for Nasca embroideries between 1-300 C.E., but they may have continued to be used in later periods as well.
Collected in Peru before the 1970s by Ina VanStan, a Professor of Textiles and Clothing at the Florida State College for Women (Florida State University) from the 1940s to c. 1966. VanStan later gifted her collection to the donor. A large amount of the donation was used for teaching at the University of Alberta while others were mainly small study fragments.
textile production