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ARCHAEOLOGY AND

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 449 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ARCHAEOLOGY AND See also:ART The archaeology of See also:shuttle-See also:weaving shows that for ages the use of a See also:loom for weaving See also:plain, as distinct from ornamental or figured textiles, whether of See also:fibres or of spun threads, has been practically universal, whilst the essential points of its construction have been almost See also:uniform in See also:character. An See also:early See also:stage in its development, anterior probably to that when the See also:spinning of threads had been invented, is represented by the loom or See also:frame (see fig. 29) used by a native of See also:Sarawak to make a textile with shreds of grass. As will be seen, the shreds of grass for the warp are divided into See also:groups by a See also:flat See also:sword-shaped See also:implement which serves as the See also:batten (Latin spatha). The shuttle is passed above it, leaving a weft of grass in between the warp; the batten is then moved upwards and compresses the weft into the warp; this method of pressing the weft upwards was usually employed by See also:Egyptian and See also:Greek weavers for their See also:linen textiles of beautiful quality. Fig. 30 gives us an See also:Indian See also:Hill tribesman weaving with spun threads; but here we find the loom fitted with rudely constructed headles, by which the See also:weaver lifts and lowers alternate ranks of warp threads so that he may throw his shuttle-carried weft across and between them. Besides the headles there is a See also:hanging See also:reed or See also:comb, and between the reeds of it the warp threads are passed and fastened to a See also:roller or See also:cylinder. After throwing his shuttle once or twice backwards and forwards, the weaver pulls the comb towards himself, thereby pressing his weft and warp together, thus making the textile which he gradually winds from See also:time to time on to the roller. This advance in the construction of the loom is also virtually of undateable See also:age; and except for more substantial construction, there is little difference in See also:main principles between it and the See also:medieval loom of fig. 31. With such looms, and by arranging coloured warp threads in a given See also:order and then weaving into them coloured shuttle or weft threads, See also:simple textiles with stripes and chequer patterns FIG.

31.-Medieval Loom, from a Cut could be, and were, by See also:

Jost See also:Amman; See also:middle of the 16th produced; but textiles See also:century. of complex patterns and textures necessitated the more complicated apparatus that belongs to a later stage in the See also:evolution of the loom. Fig. 32 is from a See also:Chinese See also:drawing, illustrating the description given in a Chinese See also:book published in 1210 on the art of weaving intricate designs. The traditions and records of such figured weavings are far older than the date of this book. As spun silken threads were brought into use, so the development of looms with increasing See also:numbers of headles and other See also:mechanical facilities for this sort of weaving seems to have started. But as far back as 2690 B.C. the Chinese were the only cultivators of See also:silk,1 the delicacy and fineness of which must have postulated possibilities in ~\111181111' See also:ion lllllllillil ~II~i „,''1,~ -,; ~` l t1k~~ II 11', i IT"- 111 ll :See also:Ali ,A' hljts _ -See also:sees {I yI\~~~f f;::& ~ 7I .~j t,t weaving far beyond those of looms in which See also:grasses, wools and See also:flax were used. It therefore is probably correct to See also:credit the Chinese with being the earlier inventors of looms for weaving figured silks, which in course of time other nations (acquainted only with See also:wool and flax textiles) saw with wonder. At the comparatively See also:modern See also:period of 300 B.C. Chinese dexterity in See also:fine-figured weaving had become matured and was apparently in advance of any other elsewhere. Designs were being See also:woven by the Chinese of the earlier Han See also:Dynasty 206 B.C. as elaborate almost 1 E. Pariset, Histoire de la See also:sale (See also:Paris, 1862).

From See also:

Roth's Natives of Sarawak, by permission of Truslove and See also:Hanson. as those of the See also:present See also:day, with dragons, phoenixes, mystical See also:bird forms, See also:flowers and fruits.' At that time even See also:Egypt, See also:Assyria or Babylonia, See also:Greece and See also:Rome, seem to have been only learning of the fact that there was such a material as silk.' Their shuttle-weaving had been and was then concerned with spun wool and flax and possibly some See also:cotton, whilst the ornamentation of their textiles, although sparkling on occasion with See also:golden threads, was done apparently not by shuttle-weaving but by either See also:embroidery or a sort of See also:compromise between darning and weaving from which See also:tapestry weaving descended (see TAPESTRY). The range of their See also:colours was limited, reds, purples and yellows being the See also:chief ; and their shuttle-weaving was principally concerned with plain stuffs, and in a much smaller degree with striped, spotted and chequered fabrics. Remains of these, whether made by Egyptians thousands of years B.c., by Scandinavians of the early See also:Bronze Age, by See also:lake dwellers, by See also:Aztecs or Peruvians See also:long before the See also:Spanish See also:Conquest, display little if any technical difference when compared with those woven by nomads in See also:Asia, hill tribes in See also:India and natives in Central See also:Africa and islands of the Pacific. Such ornamental effect as is seen in them depends upon the repetition of stripes or very simple See also:crossing forms, still this principle of repetition is a prominent See also:factor in more intricate designs which are shuttle-woven in broad looms and lengths of stuff. The See also:world's apparent indebtedness to the Chinese for knowledge of figured shuttle-weaving leads to some See also:consideration of their early overland See also:commerce westwards. About 200 B.C. during the Han Dynasty Chinese See also:trade had extended beyond inner Asia to the confines of the Graeco-See also:Parthian See also:empire, then at its See also:zenith, and the See also:protection of the route by which the Seres (Chinese) sent their merchandise was fully recognized as a See also:matter of importance. Seventy years later the See also:emperor of See also:China sent a certain Chang Kien on a See also:mission to the Indo-Scythians; and according to his records the See also:people as far See also:west as See also:Bactria (adjacent to the Graeco-Parthian territory) were knowing traders, and amongst other things under-stood the preparation of silk. Chinese weavings had for some time been coming into See also:Persia, and doubtless instigated the more skilled weavers there to adapt their shuttle looms in course of time to the weaving of stuffs with greater variety of effects than had been hitherto obtained by them; and into See also:Persian designs were introduced details taken not only from Chinese textiles, but also from sculptured, embroidered and other See also:ornament of Graeco-Parthian and earlier Babylonian styles. In A.D. 97 Chinese enterprise in still furthering their trade relations with the Far West is at least suggested by the fact that envoys from the emperor of China to Rome actually reached the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, but turned back frightened by the Parthian accounts of the terrors of the See also:sea voyage. Early in the 3rd century A.D.

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Heliogabalus is reputed to have been amongst the first of the See also:Roman emperors to See also:wear garments entirely of silk (holosericum), which, if figured (as is not unlikely), were probably of Syrian or Persian manufacture. Sidonius See also:Apollinaris (5th century) writes of Persian patterned stuffs,—" Bring forth brilliant cushions and stuffs on which, produced by a See also:miracle of art, we behold the fierce Parthian with his See also:head turned back on a prancing steed; now escaping, now returning to hurl his See also:spear, by turns fleeing from and putting to See also:flight See also:wild animals whom he pursues "—a description quite appropriate to such silk weaving as that in fig. 33.. A number of kindred pieces have been recovered of See also:late years from Egyptian See also:burial-places of the Roman period. The Persians of the See also:Sassanian dynasty (3rd to 7th century) traded in silks with See also:Romans and Byzantines; See also:King See also:Chosroes (about 570) encouraged the trade, and ornamental weaving seems to have been an See also:industry of some See also:standing at See also:Bagdad and other towns See also:north, See also:east and See also:south, e.g. See also:Hamadan, See also:Kazvin See also:Kashan, See also:Yezd See also:Persepolis, &c. To the north-west of Persia and north of See also:Syria See also:lay the See also:Byzantine region of See also:Anatolia (now Asia See also:Minor), some towns in which became noted for their fine weavings: the See also:mass of the See also:population there was well off in the 6th century, the See also:country highly cultivated and prosperous, and See also:justice fairly administered,' thus affording favourable conditions for an industry like ornamental weaving, which had been and was prospering in neighbouring Syrian districts. 1 See Chinese Art, by See also:Stephen W. Bushell, C.M.G., B.Sc., M.D. (See also:London, 1906), vol. ii. p. 95. 2 See also:Aristotle describes the silk-See also:worm and its cocoon.

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Virgil-See also:Martial and late Roman writers (including See also:Pliny) throw scarcely more See also:light upon the use of silken stuffs than that they were of rarity and greatly prized by opulent Romans. See also:Propertius (19 B.c.) writes of " silken, garments of varied See also:tissue," and of Cynthia that " perchance she glistens in Arabian Silk." 3 W. M. See also:Ramsay, Studies in the See also:History and Art of the Roman Empire (University of See also:Aberdeen, 19e6).

End of Article: ARCHAEOLOGY AND

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