Page 66 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

54 History and Science of Knots

leaf, a large part of the string was made of animal material. Fine string was
made of goat hair. This material was always spun, plied and cabled in the
opposite direction as was usually the case: sZ2S3. Apart from goat hair, un-
tanned camel hide was used occasionally. Of course camel hide cannot be
spun. The solution for connecting strips of rawhide was to cut the ends in the
form of slitted triangles, which could be hooked one in the other (Fig. 12).
Two S-twisted lengths of connected camel hide strips were Z-plied. This use
of animal material does not only point to a possible lack of vegetable material,
but also indicates that there were contacts between the inhabitants of the town
and the local Bedouin population.

Fig. 13. Wrapped stopper knot, loop and Z-overhand knot in a zS2Z2 rope, made
of date palm fibre
Not only the raw materials are different at Berenike, but also the knots
and other applications. From a 5th century A.D. trash dump is a beautifully
made stopper in a zS2Z2 rope, made from date palm fibre (Fig. 13). Loops
were made by pulling a string through an opening, made by twisting open the
end where the plying was started. Fig. 14 shows a zS4 string*, made of very
fine date palm fibre, with a loop and an S-overhand knot to prevent the loop
from sliding. The construction is very similar to that in the rope made of
camel hide shown in Fig. 12. In general the most frequently found knots are

*This string can also be recorded as zS2S2.