Abstract
Six of the Imdang tombs containing remains with imprints of ancient fabrics and textiles were investigated. Within the tombs, a total of 120 pieces of imprinted fabrics and textiles were investigated, all of which belongs to $5{\sim}6C$ Shilla period. All of the hemp textiles examined exhibited similar characteristics found in ancient hemp textiles: they were woven by plain weave technique with s-twist threads. The examined silk could be categorized into plain woven silk, cho, and double woven brocade, all of them made with non-twisted threads and degummed silk. The density of the plain woven silk ranged from 39 threads to 144 threads. Cho was also found, which showed similar characteristics to those of Gaya and Bakjae tombs. One piece of 2/1 twill weave on plain ground and 12 pieces of double woven brocade were found and their average density was $97.4{\times}33.4/cm$ with denser warp than weft. The various thickness of the threads were observed in the examined plain braid. The silk with twining technique showed thicker warp than weft. This is similar to the techniques of fabrics found in the King Muryeoung's Tomb of the Bakjae period. Fabrics with the purple-like color were observed in the some of the double woven brocades and also on the plain woven silk imprinted on the remains. The purple-like color was revealed to be purple with a tint of violet. The two tombs from which the imprinted fabrics with purple-like color were found belonged to top-class social level of the Shilla period, which informs that the purple color was used exclusively for the people of higher social status. The floss silk was found between the double woven brocade and plain woven silk of the belt, which is an important evidence that the floss silk was used for stuffing in the early 6th century.
