EXARC Journal (Nov 2020)
Groundstone Indications from the Southern Levant for a 7th Millennium BCE Upright Mat Loom
Abstract
The southern Levant features a long-established matting tradition: soumak (weft wrapping) and also weft twined matting from the 10th millennium BC, and coiled matting from the 8th millennium BCE. The Chalcolithic period, 5th millennium BCE, attests to the introduction of plain plait, twill, sewn through techniques and also the use of the horizontal ground mat loom. Ellipsoid pebbles with opposed notches (groundstone) have been recovered from several sites from various periods. Such artifacts are generally identified as fish net sinkers. We offer an alternative interpretation. We argue that the pebbles were used in the manufacture of papyrus (paper reed) or reed matting on an upright mat loom using the warp twining technique. The technique is known ethnographically from Israel to Japan.
