Well, my thoughts - and the essay - focus on north-western Europe, mainly Scandinavia, and I have not had the opportunity to study tanning in other cultures in depth. The short outline (AFAIK) is: tanning with fat is very very old method, used by several indigenous groups. Alum tanning occurred in northern Africa and in the Middle East (possibly also India, but the article didn't go that far east). We know that the Romans did use vegetable tanning, and likely introduced that to the occupied and non-occupied parts of Europe. It doesn't seem to be concensus as to where the Romans got the idea of vegetable tanning from.
I've no idea what was used for tanning in the Americas, sub-saharan Africa or in the remaining parts of Asia. I wouldn't be surprised if vegetable tanning had developed independently in several parts of the world, as bark can be used for dyeing skins.
If you want to read more, my main sources for pre-medieval tanning are several articles by Carol van Driel-Murray.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-01-27 08:32 pm (UTC)I've no idea what was used for tanning in the Americas, sub-saharan Africa or in the remaining parts of Asia. I wouldn't be surprised if vegetable tanning had developed independently in several parts of the world, as bark can be used for dyeing skins.
If you want to read more, my main sources for pre-medieval tanning are several articles by Carol van Driel-Murray.