Well, that was a long week.

Right now in our little study of fabrics we’re looking at the gap between the discovery of how to twist fibers into thread/ the invention of spinning and the technology of the loom.

The understanding of simple weaving can’t be too far behind string. Weaving string or grasses or anything around fingers is a common pastime for fidgeters. It would not take much more to tie a few strings together and then knot and weave them to make a strap to use as is, or to attach to other things. Imitating a spider web and creating a web of thread in a forked branch to weave around is also fairly simple to see happening. Setting supports in the ground to use as the edges of a loom would also work. And people today still use ‘stick weaving’, which to me seems an extension of the finger weaving. Multiple long thin sticks with eyes (like needles) could be threaded and laid close together. Weaving is then done over the sticks, which are them drawn through the woven work to allow for the strap to grow longer and larger. This would also leave no signs of a loom in the archaeological record.

Many grasses and sturdier fibers can also be ‘self loomed’, building a frame of the material in the shape of the item you wanted – a bowl, a basket, a mat- and then weaving around it. It’s easy to see that the technology of looms probably existed long before we have any remaining evidence of it, as the materials to use them were likely broken down for other uses or simply didn’t last in the record.