Page 146 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

136 History and Science of Knots

ing of the effect of cohesion between twisted fibres. The level of rope making,
by twisting natural or synthetic fibres in order to make a stronger, longer and
more flexible material, equates to cultural development. Moreover, rope has
always had a geo-political significance of some kind or other. A few highlights
of the history of rope-making readily demonstrate that rope is more than a
mere commodity of commerce. In the 13th century the Vikings were supply-
ing the European market with svardreip, walrus hide rope, which was held
in great esteem for its immense natural strength. They shipped this product
from Greenland's west coast via their (regular) trade routes to the great fair
of Koln in Germany [20]. During the post-war years resource shortages forced
synthetic fibres to be developed, showing that Man will make rope with the
available materials and accessible technology. Equally well we can state that
the very first introduction of stronger knottable materials affected ropeworking
techniques. When rope came into being the technicality of knotted structures
steeply increased, for splices and seizings emerged. Rope-working techniques
got developed virtually simultaneously all over the world. Due to empiric fil-
tering they resulted in a globally near-identical set of structures. Alas, much
of the initial stages of this parallel evolutionary process went unrecorded.
According to [29], the oldest known rope, made from palm fibres, is a
sample which was found in Kafr' Ammar; that rope dates from 3rd-6th dynasty
(approximately 2500 B.C.). However, in this book there are details of earlier
grass rope (e.g. Desmostachya bipinnata), and there is mention of much older
material. At Bandari, grass rope from approximately 4500 B.C. has been found
[21], [31].
As rope making was discovered and mainly developed on land, it follows
that rope-working techniques were well-established before further technology
enabled Man to turn Mariner. It becomes obvious that when primitive man
took to the sea his knot repertoire was already synchronised with the knottable
media to which he was accustomed. However, life at sea differs from that on
land. Irrespective of how fascinating an element the ocean may be, one does
not go out there to waste time, as life on relatively small vessels is one of
perpetual motion and, moreover, not without danger. In that context the
dependency upon rope came to rely on a totally different dimension: that of
security. In other words the nature of the encountered rope problems changed
[11]. Furthermore when Mankind took to the sea, he not only entrusted his life
to the product of his rope-making knowledge, but one other very significant
change occurred; the magnitude of his exposure to rope problems exploded.
We shall come to see that, under influence of a drive towards differentiation
within societies, these two things in fact caused a rope-working discipline to
become interwoven with, at least parts of, the various identities of the Mariner.
In our definition of Mariners we chose to view them as a single global
phenomenon (over all time). However, knots at sea split into roughly two