Hi Mirjam, Ryder also mentions white wool from Egyptian burials. It is what got me thinking that he must be wrong about the idea that all prehistoric wool from Northern Europe was brown. The white wool was found in the Urumchi burials as well - - also dry locations that stayed dry for these thousands of years.
The textile finds from Northern Europe were mostly from bogs and oak coffins. The water in peat bogs is stained a dark brown and both oak acorns and oak galls are used to dye wool. If one wets dry, unfinished oak wood it quickly turns a dark grey. Fabrics found in the salt mines in Northern Europe retained evidence that there were white wools used in their textiles. The obvious difference was that the fabrics in the salt mines stayed dry. Grace Fred and Grace Hatton Hawley Pa
