Page 14 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

PART I. PREHISTORY AND ANTIQUITY

The four chapters in Part I deal with evidence of knots be-
ing used by mankind, and other animals, from prehistoric
times up to ancient periods of European and Egyptian civi-
lizations.
The first chapter attempts a chronology of the advent of
cordage and knot technology over the vast range of time from
the Lower Palaeolithic Age (two and a half million years ago)
to the Neolithic Age and beyond, when modern Homo sapi-
ens appeared some five or six thousand years ago. Most of
the evidence is circumstantial, drawn from sparse knowledge
of art, dwellings, beads and clothing, tools and weapons, and
sea voyages made by various peoples who left their marks in
this long and far-distant period.

The second chapter discusses the question Why knot? The
author speculates on what types of knot were the first to be
used, and how they might have been thought of in the first
place.
The third and fourth chapters are written by archaeologists
who have examined evidence, direct or circumstantial, of
knots and rope found at many excavation sites. Chapter
3 deals with knotting evidence found at sites in Denmark
and Switzerland (Swiss Neolithic lake dwellings); and with
the knots and equipment found with the Ice Man, who was
discovered in 1991, in a glacier just south of the Italian-
Austrian border. Chapter 4 contains diagrams of findings of
knots, plaits, basketry and rope, found by the author during
ten expeditions to four different archaelogical sites in Egypt.
The earliest site dates from 1350 s.c. at the time of Pharao
Amenhotep IV.