British Bronze Age Life
http://www.mustfarm.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/MustRead-June2012.pdf
http://www.mustfarm.com/bronze-age-river/discoveries/
http://www.mustfarm.com/bronze-age-river/archaeology/
http://www.mustfarm.com/bronze-age-river/more/
Bronze Age textiles and boats in Britain along the shore. This was before the cod were fished out. The Channel was full of cod. Big cod came up into shallow water in the winter. Britons have been fishing the Channel for a long time.
Britons had wool and they had bronze. This is where I would look for earliest English knitting.
Indeed, on a watery site like this woolly fibres might survive. Waterlogged plant material survives really well (I work on this type of material), so why not wool?
ReplyDeleteSo, when you find that mythical knitted fabric do let us know. Until you do, then all of your claims about how and when knitting originated are nothing more than conjecture. Someone who claims to be a scientist should know that, yet you repeatedly make all sorts of wild claims without evidence and expect everyone to believe you without question.
ReplyDeleteI looked at hand knitting in 1999, and thought there must be a better way, so I looked and looked and sure enough there was knitting sheaths.
ReplyDeleteI looked at hand spinning circa 2005, and thought there must be a better way, and sure enough there was differential rotation speed as hinted at by Alden Amos.
In my world, one must look, before one finds (or rediscovers) appropriate technology. When I have visited archeological sites, I find them looking for the tools that modern hobby knitters and hobby spinners use, rather than the tools that would be preferred by professional workers paid piecework.
That is, the professional is looking for high productivity and ergonomics at a minimum capital cost, while the hobbyist seeks ease of use, versatility, and an attractive design. Thus, the modern hobbyist and the traditional professional have different tool kits. If an archaeologist looks for modern hobby tools, they are not likely to find them even if those crafts were being actively pursued.
At least part of my search for old tools is a search for tools that I can use to produce better textiles. I know what tools are available in the modern commercial market, and I want better.
I have been making knitting sheaths for 10 years and I have made hundreds. However, I am still tweaking the designs and coming up with tools that do one particular thing better, faster, easier.