Page 38 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

Why Knot ? Some Speculations on the Earliest Knots 25

well with very rough materials, at least for a while. More security could be
gained by making an extra tuck (11). The idea of turning the ends of (10)
back and making another Half Knot on top of the first (12) to form a Granny
Knot (#1206) or a Reef Knot (#1204) would probably only have occurred to
someone using a flexible medium; the knots are neither obvious nor easy to tie
with stiff media.
These last two binding knots could have been recognised as bends if the
medium were slipped off the object; or if the distal standing part broke and the
knot fell off; or by insightful observation. Of course, the use of extra tucks (11)
to form such knots as the Surgeon's Knot (#1209) would probably also have
occurred early. Modern knot tiers, accustomed to modern knotting media,
know that the Granny Knot is less secure than the Reef as a binding knot,
and that even the Reef Knot is insecure as a bend. It is doubtful that either
property would be noticeable with most primitive media; both knots would
have been found adequate as bends as well as binding knots.
The final simple way to try to secure (7) was to tuck the running end
under the subterminal standing part (13). This forms a Half Hitch (#50);
it could also have been formed by capsizing (10). An extra tuck could have
been given to (13) in several ways. If taken round the subterminal standing
part (14), the result is a Timber Hitch (#195). A second Half Hitch round
the proximal standing part (15) forms Two Half Hitches (#54) if of the same
alignment or handedness, or Reversed Half Hitches (#57) if of the opposite;
these two knots could also have been obtained by capsizing (12). A second
Half Hitch round the subterminal standing part (16) forms a Half Hitch Noose
(#0); some of the possible knots with this shadow can capsize to the Overhand
Noose (#1114).
Other two-tuck knots, starting with a turn round the proximal standing
part, include (17) a sort of Noose (#0) and (18), a Figure-Eight Hitch (#1666)
that, with an additional tuck or two, would form a variety of Timber Hitch.
Note that (13)-(18) would have functioned as secure binding knots only if
they were drawn up tight and the load was kept steady; otherwise, the standing
part- would have had to be stabilised by some such means as a Half Hitch or
an Overhand knot tied in the standing part round the running end. Note also
that all these knots would have been effective hitches and that (15)-(18) would
have functioned as nooses in most media if removed from the original object.
Thus with a single turn and no more than about two tucks, more or less
at random starting from (7), a number of effective binding knots and hitches
would be obtained and, if the object were removed, some effective bends and
nooses. Any perceived remaining insecurity would quite likely have been met
by making additional tucks.