The oldest dress of the Netherlands? Recovering a now-vanished, colour pattern from an Early Iron Age fabric in an elite burial

The Uden–Slabroek cemetery yielded one of the richest Early Iron Age burials found in the Netherlands: an inhumation grave of a person wearing elaborate bronze and iron ornaments (ca. 8th century BC). Exceptionally mineralised fragments of wool textiles were found inside the corrosion layer of the bronze anklets and bracelets. Advanced multidisciplinary analysis of these textiles identified them as the remains of the oldest garment of the Netherlands, made from a bright red and blue wool twill fabric woven in a shepherd’s check pattern. Advanced mass spectrometry analysis provided direct identification of dyes, including cochineal — the earliest evidence of a red dye for the entire region (especially the precious insect dye variant). Virtual synchrotron-based 3D analysis of the fragments documented the textile weave types and the morphometry of surface and buried layers. The correlation of the two approaches makes it possible to recover an entire, now-vanished, colour pattern from highly altered fabrics. • Textiles from one of the richest Early Iron Age graves (c. 800 BC) were studied. • We observed a red/blue wool in a shepherd’s check pattern. • We report the first modern red dye in the supra-region. • Synchrotron imaging and dye analysis were combined in an innovative way. • We discuss the significance of the oldest coloured garment in the Netherlands.