Novel approaches to material use and reuse in Victorian-Era Melbourne, Australia; New insights from stable light isotope analysis and scanning electron microscopy of fiber artifacts

Fiber and perishable artifacts are valuable data sources that require analytical approaches in historical archaeology. This paper presents the results of stable isotope and scanning electron microscopic analysis of fiber and perishable artifacts from a Victorian-era Melbourne cesspit. The results raise the possibility of a local cottage industry in wool processing, demonstrate global trade links and suggest that Victorian-era Melbournians participated in a unique Australian jute textile repurposing craft in response to material scarcity. The remains also demonstrate that jute textiles survive in specific archaeological contexts, like cesspits, and that their rarity in collections could be attributable to inadequate textile analysis techniques.