Prehistoric mat reveals ancient Chinese weaving techniques

Source: Xinhua ^ | 2016-01-14 | Editor: An

[SunkenCiv]

Invented weaving? I believe it, I've seen 'em drive. /ducks /runs

[SunkenCiv]

[DannyTN]

And of course, prehistoric weave reveals ancient Chinese baldness patterns.

[Tax-chick]

"Our guess is that our ancestors used it as a cover or bedding," Zhang said in an email interview. "Its exact use is open to discussion."

I think it's is a safe bet that "our ancestors" put a flat, reed mat either over or under something.

[mrs. a]

Ancient Chinese secret! (I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist)

[PghBaldy]

How come the stuff China makes now doesn’t last 7 years, let along 7000? Someting wong.

[Adder]

Hunh...Made in China for Walmart....

[SunkenCiv]

It also makes me wonder about the antiquity of reed vessels.

[Tax-chick]

Picture your reed basket as a rectangle with the short sides stitched together (a cylinder). Add a circle on one end (the base). What do you get when this object deteriorates? After 7,000 years, probably a rather tattered rectangle.

[bert]

----- the Kudzu fabric----

If there is kudzu fabric, why aren't we rich?

[Tax-chick]

I suppose it could be the long sides of the rectangle that are attached, for an elongated rather than stubby cylinder.

[Tax-chick]

Because nobody’s making fabric from your kudzu?

Have you tried it?

[SunkenCiv]

Kudzu’s supposedly ideal for making alcohol fuel, and as you probably know, it’s actually possible to take a nap in a chaise lounge and wake up with vines having grown visibly closer (up to a foot a day).

[SunkenCiv]

Picture myself in a reed boat, on a river, with short sides stitched up, and a circular base...

[Tax-chick]

LOL!

[bert]

making fabric is woman’s work

but then there is NC State and perhaps the best of the textile schools. Then in the western part of the state there are thousands of acres being assaulted by Kudzu.

I have no recollection of kudzu fabric being a course when NC was blessed with so much of it. The ag department pushed Christmas trees as a crop when kudzu thrived in the exact same growing environment

[Tax-chick]

This information suggests that there are much better materials for making fabric than kudzu. P.J. O’Rourke, in his study of Bangladesh, observed the same thing about jute.

[bgill]

As if a picture were too hard to include.

[Lady Heron]

One of the best Halloween costumes I ever witnessed was a guy that came as a bush. He took very long Kudzu vines and tied them together at the top of his head and had someone cut them at floor length. He walked around like a green Cousin It all night.

[SunkenCiv]

The truth is, I've made it really easy on myself to include graphics. When I don't, it's because of a source problem (Getty, Corbis, AP, etc) and lack of alternative sources. Some of the topics of the past week or so have graphics from a different article on the same subject because the main article's text is better, but the graphics were not there or not as good, or not usable.

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