|
For most of human history, the majority of the materials used in everyday life were made of perishable fibers - wood, bark, plants, leather, fur and even feathers. Archaeology once focused on objects made of stone, bone, metal and clay -- materials more likely to survive than fibers. In recent years, though, scholars have put more emphasis on studying the fragments of perishable technology that do survive. This is an improvement from the days when one archaeologist tore linen mummy wrappings into pieces to cushion pottery artifacts he was taking from an Egyptian tomb.
Some of the earliest known evidence of looping comes from tiny clay fragments found in an Upper Paleolithic site in Czechoslovakia. These fragments showed impressions of cordage bearing the kind of knots still commonly used for making nets. Those netting impressions give us physical evidence that dates back 28,000 years. The sophistication of the fiber impressions suggests that people had been making nets for some time.
I tell this story to classes and in lectures to fiber groups, and we wonder: Were the marks made by sheaths used for carrying pots? Were those containers meant for everyday use or for ceremonial purposes? What did the impressions represent to the people who made them? Even people who don't fish are fascinated by fishing nets, and by this connection to how our ancient (and not so ancient) ancestors fed themselves. When students take up shuttle and gauge and learn to work this knotted looping technique for themselves, they keep that ancient fiber legacy alive.
Learn About Fuegian Coiling -- Click here to learn about looping over a core element.
Netting Workshops
Looping Workshop Topics
Lecture Topics
|
|
