warp and seems to have been performed only on horizontal
loom–made textiles. It may have served to prevent the weft
from gathering in the warp, reducing the overall width of
the textile. Decorative fringes were oft en added to the edges
of a textile as well. Th ese were usually created by letting the
ends of the warp threads hang beyond the edge of the weft.
Th ese ends were loose or tied off. Occasionally, additional
thread was woven into the edges and selvedges to increase
the amount of fringe on the piece. Weft looping was also oc-
casionally practiced. Th is process of letting the weft extend
above the fabric surface at intervals created a sort of pile that
probably increased the warmth of the resulting garment.
Weaving colors into textiles was a decorative technique
commonly practiced. Th is usually extended only to weaving
stripes into the edges of the textile. Th ese stripes were usu-
ally in some combination of red, blue, and buff. Occasionally,
what seem to be maker’s marks were also woven into the tex-
tile at some point. Evidence for embroidery is slight in Dy-
nastic Eg y pt, and most of what has been ca lled embroider y by
researchers was actually woven into the cloth. Tapestry weav-
ing appears in the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca. 1550–ca. 1307
b.c.e.), beginning with pieces found in the tomb of Th utmose
IV (r. 1401–1391 b.c.e). In this technique the weaver used dif-
ferent color weft s in just the part of the design that demanded
the particular color. Th ese textiles were packed down to re-
duce the visibility of the warp.
Sewing was used to a minimal extent in Egypt, mostly
for craft ing garments. Seams and hems were usually rolled
and stitched into place. However, textiles of all types were
frequently mended, indicating their worth. Mending is found
on common textiles as well as on the fi ner pieces found in
royal contexts. Th e mending was accomplished by working
new warp threads into the damaged area and then stitching
across them. Patches were uncommon. As mentioned, em-
broidery was rarely used, and it was most commonly used to
outline woven-in decoration.THE MIDDLE EAST
BY AMY HACKNEY BLACKWELL
Few examples of ancient Near Eastern textiles exist. Because
cloth decays quickly, most do not remain in the archaeologi-
cal record. Likewise, few positively identifi ed weaving and
spinning implements survive, but archaeologists have found
numerous drawings and paintings depicting spindles and
looms and women working with them. Some ancient Mes-
opotamian sculptures convey the texture of the cloth worn
by the subjects, but it is impossible to reconstruct colors or
patterns. To guess what ancient cloth must have looked like,
historians can only read contemporary descriptions of tex-
tiles and view examples of textiles from slightly later periods.
Weaving and spinning techniques have not changed greatly
over the centuries, so anthropologists can gain insight into
ancient textile manufacturer by studying the weaving tech-
niques of less developed societies.Near Eastern people began making textiles as early as
25,000 b.c.e., braiding, twisting, spinning, and weaving
strips of bark and plant fi bers to make primitive cloth. When
people domesticated sheep and goats around 8000 b.c.e., they
began making cloth out of wool and goat hair. Wool was the
most common fi ber in the region. People started growing fl ax
for linen about 8,000 years ago; linen was a luxury cloth used
for expensive garments. In Mesopotamia textile manufac-
turing became a major business. Most cloth production was
done in individual homes as a cottage industry rather than
in large factories, but many households participated in the
trade. Weaving factories at Ur and Lagash around 2100 b.c.e.
employed thousands of women and children, producing cloth
in fi ve grades of quality. Most of the cloth was given out as ra-
tions to dependents of the great temple households, and only
a small amount was ever traded abroad. In ancient Anatolia
groups of women ran cloth-making businesses. Aft er 1500
b.c.e. commercial weaving operations throughout the region
employed men, but women continued to do most of the spin-
ning and weaving for their homes and families.
Th e Assyrians brought cotton plants to the Near East
from Egypt around 700 b.c.e., although Near Eastern people
apparently were importing cotton cloth from other lands as
early as 1000 b.c.e., as cotton fragments from Bahrain, in the
Persian Gulf (ancient Dilmun), attest. Silk appeared in Mes-
opotamia and the Near East during Roman times, brought
from China through Persia via the Silk Road.
Making fi bers into cloth was a labor-intensive process.
Aft er the fi ber was collected from the fi eld or the animals, it
had to be cleaned and untangled by combs. Th e fi bers were
then spun into thread on spindles—wooden spikes weighted
on the bottom and used to twist and wind the fi bers. Women
throughout the Middle East used a kind of spindle called a
drop spindle.
Archaeologists can tell where some textiles were made
based on spinning patterns. Cotton fi bers naturally wind to
the right, and fl ax fi bers naturally wind to the left. Spinners
usually wound their threads according to the fi ber’s natural
pattern. Wool, on the other hand, does not naturally twist
in either direction, so it can be spun either to the left or to
the right. In an area in which linen was common, spinners
oft en spun wool thread to the left , using the same techniques
on wool as they used on linen. In an area where cotton was
common, wool thread was oft en spun to the right. Archaeolo-
gists who fi nd wool thread spun in a direction opposite that
most common in the area can assume the thread was made
elsewhere. Archaeologists can also use microscopes to exam-
ine wool fi bers to determine the type of sheep the wool came
from and the textile’s likely place of origin.
Aft er spinning, thread was sometimes dyed. Archaeolo-
gists have found evidence that Middle Eastern people were dye-
ing cloth by 3000 b.c.e. and perhaps earlier. Dyers used roots,
tree bark, leaves, nuts, lichens, and berries to achieve various
colors. Th e indigo plant was used to dye cloth blue. Th e most
expensive dye in the region was a purple color made from thetextiles and needlework: The Middle East 10770895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1077 1077 10/10/07 2:30:59 PM