Groundstone Indications from the Southern Levant for a 7th Millennium BCE Upright Mat Loom

The southern Levant features a long-established matting tradition: soumak (weft wrapping) and also weft twined matting from the 10th millennium BC, and coiled matting from the 8th millennium BCE. The Chalcolithic period, 5th millennium BCE, attests to the introduction of plain plait, twill, sewn thr...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Janet Levy
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: EXARC 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/8a9bd848bdd54914ac9249e65482da41
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:The southern Levant features a long-established matting tradition: soumak (weft wrapping) and also weft twined matting from the 10th millennium BC, and coiled matting from the 8th millennium BCE. The Chalcolithic period, 5th millennium BCE, attests to the introduction of plain plait, twill, sewn through techniques and also the use of the horizontal ground mat loom. Ellipsoid pebbles with opposed notches (groundstone) have been recovered from several sites from various periods. Such artifacts are generally identified as fish net sinkers. We offer an alternative interpretation. We argue that the pebbles were used in the manufacture of papyrus (paper reed) or reed matting on an upright mat loom using the warp twining technique. The technique is known ethnographically from Israel to Japan.