The recovery of weavings using the Twining weave was one of the major surprises offered by the new craft of early man. So simple in it's process, yet so advanced it would be a present day skill, one we here would offer a little note on. As you can see below, the sum of this weave is a twist. The new material being added to the weave is merely captured by a giving a twist to the blades that it will be interlaced with. |
Not a true weave, in the terms often given weaving, but still the end result is a mat of interlaced material. To quote Webster's, "To intertwine, to interlace". But it offers a problem to the archaeologist. The very method employed, leaves an end product that is too weak to set upon, and would be useless as a form of making a common mat.But as the displays offer the viewer, and from the scores of samples recovered, the Twining weave was put to common use, in both mats and baskets. The mystery of the twining mats was solved by a fortunate clue. The curator noted that the sun shades on his porch, had been manufactured using the same Twining weave. Their open weave allowed air to pass and guarded against the sun rays at the same time. Had Wal Mart and others infringed on what should have been an early man patent? The question, did early man set upon these fragile weavings or were they also employed as we use them today? The care given to the children at the site would persuade the archaeologist that the mats were in fact sun shades. We need consider the total artifacts recovered at the shelter, items made and directed toward the care of children. Mobiles, the tool used by twenty first century man to prevent the new born from developing the physical problem of being crossed eyed. The small rabbit's fur blanket recovered with the child burial. The teaching aids that were so common with all the new crafts. The padded beds made with pads from the prickly pear, pads with their needles removed. The toys. Yes man, the cave man, had placed great consideration into the future of his children. So the need for a sun shade was there. Evidence was strong at the site that the young had been place into beds. Had mobiles employed to hold their attention, so why not a sun shade to protect them? Offered here are several examples of the Twining weave. |