Spinning and Weaving
Due to their elaborate burial customs and the preservative qualities of the dry, fine soil, the history of Egyptian spinning and weaving goes almost as far back as the written history of Egypt itself beginning around 5000 BC.
Spinning and weaving of flax within Ancient Egyptian society became renowned for its ability to create extremely thinly spun fibres. The importance of the processes of spinning and weaving seen within Egyptian society is prominent through tomb paintings; most importantly all surviving Egyptian temples seem to encapsulate weaving ateliers. Textile workers were comprised of all members of society, including children. Predominantly, men would usually beat the flax fibres and twined the spun thread; whereas women and children were often situated in the roving process of creating flax into wearable linen garments. Flax encapsulated all aspects of life in the Ancient Egyptian period, to create sturdier, longer lasting commodities such as towels and covers, textile workers would insert extra threads parallel to the weft or warp of a ground weave in order to create a pattern of loops.
This section features objects like models and paintings of textile workrooms illustrating the production of fabric from spinning through weaving and the tools they used to create finest linen in the ancient world.
Weavers, Tomb of Khnumhotep
Middle Kingdom, ca. 1897–1878 B.C.This facsimile is an exemplification of what weaving linen looked like during the Middle Kingdom. Here, five women of various ages are shown engaged in the various stages of manufacturing linen.
The second kneeling woman to the right can be seen shaping dried flax fibres into lengths by rolling the flax threads between her palm and left thigh and then loosely wounding them into a ball in front of her. The standing woman to her right is in the process of spinning the twisted fibres with a hand spindle to create yarn. At the centre of the scene is a woman identified as the overseer, who supervises two weavers who work at the horizontal loom on the left.
Painted at Beni Hasan by Norman de Garis Davies for the Graphic Section of the Museum's Egyptian Expedition, probably in 1931. Accessioned by the Museum, 1933. (33.8.16)
Bibliography
de Garis Davies, N. (1931) Norman de Garis Davies: Weavers, tomb of khnumhotep: Middle Kingdom, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/548575 (Accessed: 26 November 2024).
Soliman, D., et al., 2023. 'Spinning and Weaving as Ancient Egyptian Inherited Crafts', Pharos International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality, 2(1), pp. 18-32. DOI: 10.21608/pijth.2023.287373.
Model of Women Weaving
Middle Kingdom, ca. 1981-1975 BC.This model of a group of women weaving was found with 23 models of workshops, gardens and boats in a hidden chambre of Meketre, royal chief steward to Mentuhotep II. Some of the women spin, whilst others squad to weave linen on ground looms. It is not only a depiction of the role of women in the process of linen production, but its inclusion as a grave good indicates perhaps the importance of the linen industry to the royal steward as he sought to bring this memento with him into the afterlife.
Preserved in Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt. (JE 46723)
Bibliography
Brewer, D.J. and Teeter, E. (2007) Egypt and the Egyptians. 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Egyptian Museum, Cairo (n.d.) Model of Women Weaving. Middle Kingdom, ca. 1981–1975 BC. Plastered and painted wood, gesso, 128.6 x 72 x 28.5 cm. Available at: https://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/record.aspx?id=15491(Accessed: 26 November 2024).
Strip of flax fibre
Late Middle KingdomThis strip of flax fibre is one of five strips found believed to date to the late Middle Kingdom. After harvesting, strips were prepared and stored differently depending on how the flax was to be used. Here, the flax has been soaked (retted), then beaten (scutched) to separate the fibres from the plant. These fibres were then loosely twisted into strips such as this before being sent on for spinning into yarn.
Preserved in Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London. (LDUCE-UC7509)
Bibliography
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology (n.d.) Strip of flax fibre. Late Middle Kingdom. Fibre, 15 cm length. Available at: https://collections.ucl.ac.uk/Details/collect/18481 (Accessed: 26 November 2024).
Vogelsang-Eastwood, G.M. (2000) Pharaonic Egyptian Clothing. Leiden: Brill.
Pottery fragment of spindle whorl
Fayum Neolithic PeriodThis pottery fragment is one of two perforated discs found at the Fayum Kom W archaeological site. Dating back as far as the sixth millennium BC, it reflects flax being spun into yarn as people moved from nomadic to more sedentary lifestyles. Perforated with a hole for the spindle shaft, the spinner would pull out the fibres and twist them round the spindle, with the whorl acting as a fly wheel.
Preserved in Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London. (LDUCE-UC2519)
Bibliography
Barber, E.J.W. (1991) Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology (n.d.) Pottery fragment of spindle whorl. Fayum Neolithic Period. Pottery, 5.2 x 2.4 cm. Available at: https://collections.ucl.ac.uk/Details/collect/4060 (Accessed: 25 November 2024).
Ivory spindle whorl
Roman periodThis spindle whorl demonstrates both continuity and development in the flax industry over the course of Egypt’s long history. Produced some four or five millennia following the pottery whorl above, it reflects the continuation of manual technologies in flax production. However, it is a smaller and more refined object, being carved from ivory and decorated with lines, circles and dots painted with black pigment. Egypt was now involved in part of a complex trading network, giving them access to materials like ivory, as well as producing linen for export to Rome and beyond.
Preserved in Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London. (LDUCE-UC2230)
Bibliography
Midant-Reynes, B. (2000) The Prehistory of Egypt: From the First Egyptians to the First Pharaohs. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology (n.d.) Ivory spindle whorl. Roman period. Ivory with black pigment, 2.6 cm dia. Available at: https://collections.ucl.ac.uk/Details/collect/2986 (Accessed: 25 November 2024).
Loom weight
Hellenistic period, c. 4th century BCThis loom weight was excavated in the Greek port city of Naukratis. Such objects reflect those used locally in ground looms to hold warp threads in place. The material and pyramidical form of the weight reflects the Greek culture of the settlement long prior to the Ptolemaic conquest of Egypt. Its smaller size suggests it was likely used in weaving relatively fine pieces of cloth constituting the most expensive textiles.
Excavated by Sir William Matthew Fliners Petrie in Naukratis, date unknown. Currently owned by Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Image sourced from the British Museum, London. (86.481).
Bibliography
British Museum (n.d.) Loom weight. Hellenistic period, c. 4th century BC. Terracotta, 6 cm height. Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/X__4226 (Accessed: 25 November 2024).
Donohue, A.A. and Thompson, M.D. (2006) A Companion to Classical Art. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 321–330.
Petrie, W.M.F. (2013) Naukratis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 85–92.
Vogelsang-Eastwood, G.M. (2000) Pharaonic Egyptian Clothing. Leiden: Brill, pp. 112–118.
Wild, J.P. (2003) Textiles in Archaeology. Princes Risborough: Shire Publications, pp. 45–52.
Spindle tool for weaving flax
Date unknownThis is an example of the type of tools used within the process of Ancient Egyptian Flax; predominantly Flax thread was spun in a S shape (anti clockwise), doubtless because flax naturally rotates in this direction when drying, although z spun (clockwise) yarn is known as the most popular process in carrying out the cultivation and manufacturing of flax in contemporary societies.
Image from visit to the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archeology, London.
Bibliography
Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/petrie-museum (Accessed on: 25th October).