Page 43 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

CHAPTER 3

ON KNOTS AND SWAMPS
Knots in European Prehistory

Gerre van der Kleij

The author of this article is an archaeologist, not a knotter. What will be
presented in the article is therefore an archaeologist's view of knots and their
problems, in a way which hopefully will be of help to those who approach
knots from different perspectives.
In the following pages I will start by briefly discussing the conditions under
which knots, from whatever period, can and cannot be expected to have been
preserved; and the bias that this introduces in the sample of retrieved knots. I
will then explain what barriers and hindrances await those who want to study
the scarce knotting material that has survived the ages, problems that are
mostly a result of the conditions under which the discipline of archaeology is
forced to work at the moment. I will illustrate these conditions, or rather some
of the problems they create, by discussing three examples, three archaeological
contexts that are potentially rich sources of knotting-information. Finally I
will make some suggestions as to what knotters themselves could do to increase
the amount of information on prehistoric knots, and to make sure that this
information is interpreted responsibly.
Knots are, by definition, made in a pliable material. Until the invention,
archaeologically speaking quite recently, of synthetic fibres all such materials
were organic, i.e. made from parts of plants and/or animals. Unfortunately
for us, most organic materials are perishable. Some more so than others; and
much depends on the conditions in which they are kept. Generally speaking,
however, the materials traditionally used for knotting (plant fibres, inner bark
of trees, sinew, leather and the like) will not survive for more than a few
centuries in all but a few extreme circumstances. These extremes are, mainly:

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