and was oft en taken by traders to cover their expenses. In-
deed, in the later Han Dynasty it is known that some people
paid their fi nes in silk.
Th e production of silk was heavily protected in China,
and the export of silkworms was an off ense punishable by
death. Th erefore, it was not until the sixth century c.e. that
some silkworms were smuggled to Byzantium. Th is restric-
tion on silk production kept the price of silk high, and as a
result, many garments, even for wealthy people in China,
were made with silk and also linings in other material, such
as nettle cloth.
Poorer people in China and the areas around China used
not only nettle cloth but also hemp and wool; many Chinese
did not like wearing woolen garments although they were
favored by many of the local tribal peoples. For patterns,
traditionally cloth was dyed a particular color, such as blue,
red, green or yellow, but by the Zhou Dynasty (ca. 1045–256
b.c.e.), some checked patterns began to be favored. All the
“terra-cotta fi gures” from the tomb of Qin Shi Huang (r.
221–210 b.c.e.) were originally painted, with many fragments
of diff erent colored paints being found. By the Han Dynasty
wealthier Chinese preferred geometric shapes, such as checks
or diamonds, with the pattern repeated continuously; poorer
people tended to have their garments made from cloth of a
single color. Cotton does not appear to have been used in
China until the 10th and 11th centuries c.e.
In addition to their use for clothes, many textiles were
also used for drapes and awnings as well as for tents. Elabo-
rate embroideries existed in the houses of the wealthy, with
many other buildings having areas “curtained off ,” or sepa-
rated using “silk screens,” although these screens were not
always made of silk.
Outside China and the surrounding areas very little cloth
has survived. In Southeast Asia in the Funan Empire, located
in southern Cambodia and the Mekong Delta, there are a few
descriptions related to clothing. A Chinese embassy from 245
c.e. recorded that the people wore nothing but eventually
were persuaded to wear clothing for reasons of modesty, be-
ginning with small loincloths. However, by the 480s and 490s
c.e. many people were wearing sarongs (long pieces of cloth
wrapped around the body) made from brocade, showing an
important Chinese infl uence. It is probable that this pattern
was followed in other parts of Southeast Asia.
In central Asia many of the clothes included wool from
sheep and goats, with more expensive materials imported
from China. Th e major indigenous textile industries in the
region were involved in the manufacture of tents and of car-
pets. Th e former involved the use of heavy material, such as
wool. Th e latter varied between the hard-wearing carpets
used by everybody, especially the nomadic peoples, and those
for decorating houses, especially for the export trade. Prior
to the arrival of Islam in central Asia, many carpets showed
scenes of people, hunting, and festivities, although others had
geometric patterns, which became very common aft er the
sixth century c.e. Th roughout the region needles were madefrom bone or horn, and few have survived, though several
have been found in China, dating back to 2000 b.c.e., with
some estimated to be much older.
Like China, ancient India also had a rich tradition of
weaving and textile production. Archaeological excavations
from the Indus Valley civilizations (ca. 3000–ca. 1600 b.c.e.)
have found spindles and needles that suggest that cotton
fabric was woven in homes. Mention is made in numerous
ancient Indian texts, such as the Rig-Veda and the epics Ra-
mayana and Mahabharata, of weaving, textiles, and fabrics,
and ancient sculpture and murals also attest to the wide vari-
ety of textiles produced in ancient India. Th e ancient Indians
also traded their fabrics; cotton from India has been found
in ancient Egyptian tombs, and in the fi rst centuries of the
Common Era, India exported silk fabric to Rome.
Th e ancient Indians were particularly adept at brocade
work. Brocade refers to any kind of fabric made with silk or
silk-cotton blends with raised needlework in gold or silver (or
both). Th e designs made with this gold or silver needlework
were called nakshas. Th ese fabrics were dyed with vegetable
dyes, and historically color has played an important role in
Indian fabrics. Th us, for example, red was regarded as the
color of love, yellow the color of spring, indigo (a shade of
blue) the color of Lord Krishna, and saff ron (a shade of or-
ange to orange-yellow) the color of the earth.
Because textiles and fabrics do not survive through the
centuries in the same way that artifacts made of stone or
metal do, less is known about textiles in ancient Japan, where
traditions developed later than they did in China and were
strongly infl uenced by those of the Chinese. It is known that
by the late ancient period and into the early medieval period,
the Japanese had developed a number of textile traditions.
One was the use of bast fi ber, which was common before the
introduction of cotton. Bast was a fi ber that came primarily
from the gampi tree and was used principally in papermak-
ing. It was, however, also used to produce textiles.
Another type of textile work was called rozome, com-
monly referred to as “batik” in the West. Rozome was a pro-
cess of dyeing fabric. Wax was used to create the designs by
covering those portions of the fabric that were not to be dyed.
A similar technique, called kasuri, created designs from
dyed threads. Sashiko was a form of decorative embroidery
used primarily for functional purposes to reinforce points of
stress in a piece of fabric. Also common in Japan were various
methods of tie-dyeing, called shibori, which created designs
in fabrics by folding, stitching, twisting, or binding them.
While the earliest examples that have been found date to the
eighth century, the traditions and techniques developed over
a period of hundreds of years prior to that.EUROPE
BY JUDITH A. RASSON
In ancient Europe cordage (thread, string, or yarn) was made
by twisting fi bers collected from plants or animals, most sim-textiles and needlework: Europe 10790895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1079 1079 10/10/07 2:30:59 PM