What Did The First Rug Loom Look Like?

 

Apparently it looked a lot like the picture to our left. Two bars holding the warp in tension.  Note the pegs at all four sides. These would be driven into the ground wherever it best suited the weaver.  This is called a Horizontal Ground Loom. It’s horizontal; it’s on the ground.  What else could you call it?  The picture shown here was taken from a book by Peter Collingwood Titled, The Techniques of Rug Weaving.  First published in 1968, Mr. Collingwood says the horizontal ground loom was easily picked up and transported and as a result was still in use by nomads.  Do we still have some of those in the Middle-Eastern sands?  I don’t know.

Image number two is a fragment of a pottery bowl from Egypt, circa 5000 BC.  If you look closely at the image you can see the similarities between the scratching on the bowl and the horizontal ground loom above.  Notice the four pegs at the corners.
Image three is a representation of an Egyptian loom from a tomb dated approximately 2000 BC.  Again it is obviously a horizontal ground look as you can see the four pegs in the ground.

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