Fig 11 - uploaded by Christopher D. Buckley
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A Miao weaver setting up a body-tensioned frame loom in Shimen, Guizhou province. The loom lacks the horizontal members connecting the frame to the seat that most looms of this type possess. Note the paddleshaped warp beam (behind the frame, on the left in the photo). This type of loom is shown schematically in Fig. 7.4.
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... In the homelands of early farming, fibre products include wool and flax in Southwest Asia (Abbo et al., 2015;Arranz-Otaegui & Roe, 2023;Bruford & Townsend, 2006;Saña & Tornero, 2012;Zohary et al., 2012), hemp, ramie, jute, and silk in China (Buckley, 2017;Gong et al., 2016;Liao & Yang, 2016;Liu & Chen, 2012), maguey-sometimes called sisal hemp-and cotton in Mesoamerica (Coppens d'Eeckenbrugge & Lacape, 2014;Scheffler et al., 2012), wool and cotton in Peru (Clutton-Brock, 2013;Dillehay et al., 2017), possibly palm fibre in Amazonia Pennas et al., 2019), possibly Indian hemp and milkweed in eastern North America (Applegate, 2008;Borders & Lee-Mäder, 2014;Claassen, 2011;Heiser, 2003;Thompson & Simon, 2008), cotton on the Indian subcontinent (Moulherat et al, 2002;Rast-Eicher, 2016;Zohary et al., 2012), flax, wool, cotton, and enset (an Ethiopian variety of banana) in Africa (Kriger, 2009;Horsburgh & Rhines, 2010;Magee, 2014;Magnavita, 2008), and banana in Papua New Guinea (Kennedy, 2009;Denham, 2018). Textile finds dating to 7,700 years ago from the submerged neolithic site of La Marmotta, Italy: a cloth fragments, identified tentatively as woven with flax; b spindles with fibres wrapped around them (Mineo et al., 2023:320, 323). ...
Beginning in the Levant at the end of the Pleistocene era 11,700 years ago and emerging subsequently in other regions, the advent of farming and food production sustained a massive expansion of human populations, facilitated a host of socioeconomic and technological developments, and transformed much of the world’s land surface. The capacity of farming to support a rapidly growing population may appear to explain why farming first began. However, fundamental questions remain, including whether farming was ever a preferred subsistence option for mobile foragers—and for early farmers. In addition to the failure of farming to appear anywhere in the world prior to the early Holocene, the security and flexibility of hunting and gathering contrasts with the disadvantages associated with relying on farming for food. In querying the prevailing food paradigm, it is argued that fibre production for woven cloth in response to warmer, moister climate regimes in the early Holocene tipped the balance in favour of farming. Contingent on complex clothing acquiring social functions of dress and modesty during the late Pleistocene, and considered in conjunction with the early farming dispersal hypothesis, the textile hypothesis circumvents unfounded presumptions and offers a parsimonious explanatory paradigm for the origins of farming.
... The scarcity of whorls in the offshore islands south of Luzon may reflect a shift towards reliance on bark cloth (fragments of stone beaters are common finds) or a shift in fiber source, away from hemp and ramie and towards palm fibers such as abaca, as migrants moved south (Buckley 2017). Ethnographically, leaf fibers such as palm are made into yarn by teasing them into narrow strips that are then joined by knotting, a process that does not require spinning or spindles. ...
This paper presents a new map and account of the emergence and spread of spindle whorls in archaeological sites across
southern China and southeast Asia. Spindle whorls are evidence of intensive yarn production, and hence of weaving. In
the past two decades a considerable amount of new data on the presence of spindle whorls in the archaeological record has
come to light, along with improved dates for existing sites. In mainland southeast Asia the occurrences of spindle whorls
are linked to the emergence and spread of Neolithic lifeways, including rice farming. Remains of loom parts, a much rarer
occurrence, are also considered. Loom components that have been misinterpreted or overlooked in previous publications are
described and placed in context. Southwestern China emerges as a key center for innovation in weaving technique, linked
with the emergence and differentiation of the ethnolinguistic groups found in the region today. Loom designs that belong to
lineages that originated in the Neolithic period are still in use in rural areas southwestern China and southeast Asia today.
... 2. The cognate forms for names of weaving parts that are common in the Indonesian archipelago, such as balira/baliga/walira (weaver's sword beater) and apit (cloth beam), that have been cited as evidence of a common origin of these traditions (Buckley 2017) are absent. ...
This paper describes the process by which Sobei people in Sarwar Village, on the north coast of Papua, make yarn from palm leaves and weave this into a cloth called terfo, using a backstrap loom. We share details of this isolated and endangered technique that have not previously been recorded and correct some errors and omissions in earlier accounts. The Sobei, who speak an Austronesian language, are the only traditional loom weavers on the island of New Guinea. They are practitioners of a type of weaving that was formerly found in several Melanesian islands, but which was never as widespread as the better-known weaving traditions in the Indonesian and Philippine islands. Their yarn-making technique has importance for understanding how leaf fibers were processed before the arrival of cotton in the region. The foot-braced loom used by Sobei weavers is unique in the region and raises interesting questions concerning its origins.
... Weavers mastered two to four motifs which later became their trademark. The process of making woven textiles involves interlinked tasks, requiring several domesticated plants and animals (Buckley, 2017): ...
This study introduces the business model ulos women weavers in Toba Samosir Regency. The collecting data used questionnaires and interviews with 10 participants by purposive sampling. Analyzing data used is a descriptive analysis technique with Business Model Canvas Approach. The result shows that the business model is still in a position that operates on the availability of raw materials, equipment, and labour (Key Resources), what about the purchase and storage of raw materials, production, promotion, marketing, as well as product evaluation and development (Key Activities), how to partner with suppliers of yarn raw materials, with microfinance institutions and banks, the government (Key Partnership), how about investment costs, fixed and variable costs, maintenance costs, credit instalments (Cost Structure). The Value Proposition is products from Sigaol village only (Porsea) that are perceived as a good quality products. The handloom weavers sell not only to collectors or agents but to consumers. It can reach the other market. Choosing another segment will impact value propositions, different distribution channels, a different approach to customer relationships, and earn to the profitability revenue stream
... post-dating weaving and techniques such as ikat that were brought to the archipelago by Austronesian migrants (Buckley 2017). The term batick was recorded for the first time on a 1641 merchant ship's bill of lading. ...
This article describes a blue-and-white batik found on Sulawesi that dates from the 13th or 14th century. The textile is a 3-meter-long banner in a fragmentary state, with a design of two guardian animals flanking a temple-like structure and large concave-diamond motifs. A reconstruction of the original design reveals a close relationship to double-ikat gringsing textiles from Bali and weft ikat textiles from Gresik in East Java and from Lampung in South Sumatra. Wax residues present on the cloth indicate that a wax resist technique, similar to contemporary batik, has been used. This article argues that the cloth was probably woven in India, but that the pattern was created in Java. It is the earliest material evidence (to date) for sophisticated batik production in Southeast Asia. This cloth offers a glimpse into the early history of batik in Java and its connection with double-ikat weaving traditions.
... Weaving in Insular Southeast Asia is firmly associated with Austronesian speakers,and the so-called Austronesian expansion(s), whichbegan over 4000 years agowithmigrants from Taiwan settling in the northern Philippines andcontinued over three millenniauntil the settling of New Zeeland by the Maori (Bellwood 2017).The study of loom technology, and to a lesser extent, textile structure and pattern, can revealconnectionsand lineages between weaving traditions (see Buckley 2012, Boudot andBuckley 2015), in the way that comparative linguistics reveal connections between linguistic groups, because the core weaving technology is as stable as the core grammar of languages (Buckley 2017). This paper compares the two related cultural-linguistic groups, the Ende andthe Palu'e, examining if there is a clear link between the weaving of the two groups, such as if the Palu'e weaving has branched away from the Ende weaving. ...
... The question is if the pAN *tenun-an actually refers to the loom or to the produce, like in Indonesian (tenunan), or both. Warp ikat is not attested for Taiwan, so we cannot infer that pAN 'to tie' refers to resistdyeing, neither is there a word for the tubular skirt, which was invented subsequently,and more probably, like ikat itself, on the Asian mainland (see Buckley 2017). ...
The study of loom technology and textile design structure can reveal connections between weaving traditions similarly to how comparative linguistics reveal connections between linguistic groups, due to the inherent conservatism of weaving. This paper compares the weaving traditions of the Ende and the Palu’e, who are linked in oral traditions, primarily by comparing weaving related terminology against the dictionary, and examines if Palu’e weaving have branched away from Ende weaving. The archaic style of Palu’e weaving may have a source in older forms of Flores design structures that became surpassed by developments, such as patola designs among the Ende. But the comparison of the weaving lexicons show a lower convergence than language generally and does not support a Palu’e weaving origin from the Ende, neither do the designs and basic techniques. The links between the Ende and the Palu’e are more on the proto-level; language group, culture, weaving tools. Studi tentang teknologi alat tenun dan struktur desain tekstil dapat mengungkapkan hubungan antara tradisi menenun serupa linguistik komparatif mengungkapkan hubungan antara kelompok linguistik, karena konservatisme inheren tradisi tenun. Artikel ini membandingkan tradisi tenun Ende dan Palu'e, dua kelompok yang terkait dalam tradisi lisan, terutama dengan membandingkan terminologi tenun dengan kamus, dan menguji apakah tenun Palu’e pernah bercabang dari tenun Ende. Gaya kuno tenun Palu’e mungkin memiliki sumber dalam bentuk struktur desain Flores zaman dahulu yang dilampaui perkembangan seperti desain patola di tradisi Ende. Tetapi perbandingan leksikon tenun menunjukkan konvergensi yang lebih rendah daripada bahasa pada umumnya dan tidak mendukung bahwa tenun Palu’e pernah bercabang dari tenun Ende, begitu pula desain dan teknik dasarnya. Hubungan antara Ende dan Palu lebih pada tingkat proto; kelompok bahasa, budaya, alat tenun.
The article considers small sacred cloths produced in Eastern Indonesia, an area known in the textiles literature as ‘east of the Wallace line’ as handwoven cloths produced in the region share essential characteristics. They are woven on back tension looms and show similarities in the weaving technique, composition and decoration methods. The first part of the article describes and analyses three weaving ceremonies on the island of Savu where a cloth locally considered as the most ancient and the most sacred textile is woven under certain conditions, raising the question of the type of loom on which it might have been originally woven. The second part is on the origin of the back tension loom used today in eastern Indonesia. Using linguistics and referring to advanced genetic methods as well as recent findings in navigation skills of ancient Austronesian people, I suggest a re-examination of the origin of the loom east of the Wallace line.
