Page 342 - J. C. Turner "History and Science of Knots"

CHAPTER 15

THE HISTORY OF MACRAME

Roger Carter

Early History

Knots have played a vital part in the culture of man since the dawn of history.
Very early in the development of our species, men and women would learn
to copy natural growths such as entwining creepers, in order to form ropes
and to carry out simple weaving processes. They would employ their primi-
tive cordage to tie animal skins to themselves, to help build shelters, and to
construct traps and nets.
Over the centuries they would gradually develop aesthetic senses, and dis-
cover possibilities to exercise them through the construction of woven patterns,
using fibre strings of different colours and strengths. It is easy to believe that
knotted or braided belts, bracelets and anklets have been used for personal
adornment, as well as for practical purposes, by virtually all humans and for
almost the whole period of mankind's existence.
Because of natural decay, no examples of knotting are left to us which are
much older than 5000 years. We cannot know the exact period when ancient
man first began to tie square knots around cores of strands, to produce some
kind of decorative knotting. The earliest example we have is a piece of open
woven netting from ancient Egypt, which has been dated to circa 3 500 B.C. A
much later portrayal of the art which came to be known as macrame can be
seen in the British Museum, on a bas relief from Assyria, which is dated 850
B.C. It shows an Assyrian warrior wearing a macrame-fringed tunic; there is
also fringing on his horse's harness. The art in its simplest form was first seen
when Arab weavers finished off the edges of cloth removed from the loom by
knotting the warp and weft threads into a fringe. From such meagre evidence

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