ply by rolling the fi bers between one’s palm and upper leg.
Tw i s t i n g fi bers around a short rod or stick was the simplest
way of spinning. Th e stick used to control the twisted thread
was called a spindle. Cordage was used to tie things together.
It was also interwoven in various ways to create cloth. Cloth
was embellished by adding patterns while weaving or with
embroidery. Floor and wall coverings were also made of mats,
a basketry technique.
Th e fi rst cordage was made in Europe during the Pa-
leolithic Period, which coincided with the Pleistocene (up
to 10,000 years ago). A piece of cordage was found in the
Lascaux caves in France, famous for their Paleolithic wall
paintings. Th e fi bers were identifi ed as bast—from a plant.
No woven textiles have been found in Europe from this early
period. As the climate changed at the end of the Pleistocene,
people continued their nomadic lifestyles. Archaeologists call
this cultural period the Mesolithic (up to 4000 b.c.e.). Th ere
is continued evidence for the use of cordage in this period.
Fragments of nets made from tree bark bast have been found
in waterlogged sites in Finland, Estonia, and Lithuania; the
nets might have been used for fi shing, but they might equally
have been bags or hair coverings. No other Mesolithic textiles
have been found.
As time passed, people began to rely on domesticated
animals and plants, and they settled in villages. Th is period
is called the Neolithic (up to 2000 b.c.e.). People increased
their use of cordage, and this period seems to have been the
time when cloth weaving was invented. People continued to
use bast fi bers; one example is a fi shnet made of bast found in
the waterlogged lake dwelling site of Zürich-Kleiner Hafner,
dated from 1000 b.c.e. to 1000 c.e.
Weaving became more common during the Neolithic,
and there is more evidence for both the weaving itself and
the tools used. Most of the evidence for what was woven
comes from impressions left in clay on pottery and elsewhere
rather than the cloth itself (though a few cloth fragments
have been recovered). Th e main fi ber used was bast from fl ax
or nettles. Plant stems, where the fi bers are, had to be soaked
in water and then pounded to release the fi bers and combed
to align them. Wool was probably not used during the Neo-
lithic because sheep did not have fl uff y coats but had many
long hairs and short bristles mixed in the wool that made it
diffi cult to spin.
Both fl a x and (later) wool were spun by hand on spind les.
Th e person held the fi bers in one hand or on a distaff (rod)
and twisted them onto the spindle with the other hand. Spin-
dles could be held by the thread and made to spin around to
twist the fi bers better. A small weight (oft en made of ceramic)
on the spindle, called a spindle whorl, made it easier for the
spindle to rotate. Th is method of spinning persisted into the
20th century c.e. in many parts of eastern Europe.
Weaving may have begun in Europe with belt weaving—
weaving narrow bands—by fastening the end of a group of
long threads (the warp) to a stable object, like a post or a tree,
and maintaining the tension by fastening the other ends ofthe threads to the weaver’s waist. Weaving would have been
done by working another thread (the weft ) crosswise over
and under the long threads. Th is method is a small version
of a loom.
Neolithic looms were upright, rectangular frameworks,
with two legs and a horizontal bar across the top. Warp threads
were attached at the top of the bar and hung down lengthwise.
A stick called a shed rod separated the warp threads. Another
rod, a heddle, moved alternate warp threads forward and
back so that the weaver could slide the weft thread through.
Th is process was faster than weaving each individual thread
over and under. To help hold the warp threads taut, ceramic
weights were attached to groups of warp threads. Th is pro-
cess gives its name to the warp-weighted loom. It was used
throughout Europe in prehistoric times and persisted in use
until the 20th century c.e. in Norway, adding to our under-
standing of how the loom worked. Clay loom weights are
found regularly at most Neolithic sites in eastern Europe.
Cloth could be woven in diff erent patterns, depending
on the over-and-under pattern of the weft and warp. A simple
interlacing of the weft over and under the warp threads is
called the plain weave. A patterned weave could be created
by varying the number and order of warp threads skipped in
each over and under. A pattern of over-and-under alternating
pairs of weft s produces a twill pattern; these patterns have
names like herringbone or bird’s eye. Striped and plaid cloth
and also embroidery began to be used in the Neolithic. Some-
times these variations were done while the cloth was on the
loom by introducing extra threads in diff erent patterns and
colors. Excellent examples come from waterlogged sites like
Pfäffi kon-Irgenhausen in Switzerland.
Weaving plain and complex weaves continued in the
Bronze Age (ca. 2800–ca. 700 b.c.e.), aft er the Neolithic,
when there were some innovations. Wool came into use, col-
lected by shearing or perhaps just by pulling it out when it
became long and shaggy.
Th e technique of sprang fi rst appears in the Bronze Age.
Sprang is a type of weaving with the warp on a square frame,
without weft thread. Th e warp threads are attached to the
crossbars at the ends of the frame and twisted around each
other, starting at both ends and working toward the middle.
To keep the weave from springing apart, another thread is wo-
ven across the pattern when the weaving reaches the middle.
Sprang fabric is stretchy, and the technique was used where
stretch was important, as in socks and sleeves. It looks like
knitting, which was not invented until later. Examples of
sprang caps or hairnets have been found at the Danish Bronze
Age sites of Skyrdstrup and Borum Eshøj. Sprang continued
to be used in the Iron Age (ca. 1000 b.c.e.–ca. 500 c.e.), and
knowledge of it has survived in Scandinavia until the present.
In the Iron Age, weavers added hemp to fl ax and wool for
their textile needs. Loom weights abound on Iron Age sites in
eastern and central Europe; they are also found in Scandina-
via and in England. Weavers defi nitely used card weaving (or
tablet weaving) to form narrow edges of large pieces of cloth1080 textiles and needlework: Europe0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1080 1080 10/10/07 2:30:59 PM