AKHMÎM Au fil des femmes
Weaving
• Weaving at the Center and in the city of Akhmîm Weaving has a long and significant history in Egypt. Fragments of linen and cotton textiles have been found dating back to the Neolithic period. All through Pharaonic times the weaving of linen had a predominant place, and became an important element in the economy of the country. There are precise details of this activity in the wall paintings of the master weaver Neferronpet (tomb no.133), situated at Sheik Abd al-Goumah, not far from the Ramesseum. All the preparatory tasks are depicted, as well as the high-warp looms, operated by men and women1. During Greco-Roman and Byzantine times and for a few centuries after the Arab conquest, what we call «Coptic fabrics» flourished. These were woven by local craftsmen, using cotton, wool and linen. Silk also began to be used. Akhmîm was then one of the most important weaving centers, as we can see from the innumerable fragments of fabrics and clothing discovered during the archeological excavations in the old city and the Coptic monasteries and cemeteries of the area. Cotton was often imported; it did not become one of the main Egyptian crops until after 1821, when an agricultural engineer in service to Mohammed Ali Pasha prescribed the sowing of Indian cotton. As for silk, though its culture had been known since the sixth century AD, it continued to be imported; silk weaving took on great importance in the beginning of the Middle Ages. Some of the most beautiful silk weavings still conserved at the British Museum come from Akhmîm! The ancient textiles that have been discovered in Egypt were woven on looms without pedals2 certainly until the Arab conquest, and probably even later. After the Islamic period the weaving method employed in the «Coptic textiles» was gradually forgotten, and the weaving of cotton, linen and silk on looms with pedals took its place, becoming the principal activity in the city. The pedal loom is a Chinese invention, very ancient, which spread across India and the Middle East, with an incontestable surge in Persia. It uses pedals to raise and lower the shafts that carry the heddles3. This loom arrived in Akhmîm with its own vocabulary, still found today in several terms. One particular form of the pedal loom that came from China had multiple shafts, and two warps. The lower of the warps is moved by the pedals, to create the background of the fabric and tie in the motifs. The upper warp is used to create the design. It is the threading of the heddles and the raising and lowering of the shafts by the shaft puller4 in a certain pattern that determine this design. Two persons are needed for this type of loom, to synchronize the weaving action. This ingenious technique is particularly suited for double-sided fabrics. It is called the draw loom, and was widely prevalent in Europe during the late Middle Ages, certainly from the thirteenth century on. It fostered a vigorous growth in the textile industry. But in 1801, when Joseph Marie Jacquard succeeded in transforming the loom, rendering it semiautomatic and eliminating the task of the shaft puller, his invention sounded the death knell for the traditional loom. It disappeared from Europe and elsewhere. Akhmîm was thus one of the last places where this kind of weaving was still done without mechanization. The draw loom is also found in Fez, Morocco, where two workshops are reviving it. ill. 2 : tireuse des lacs / shaft puller Voir article de Monique Nelson in Memnonia 1990-91 Les fonctionnaires connus du temple de Ramsès II, p 128 / See the article of Monique Nelson in Memnonia 1990-91 The known functionaries of Ramses II, p 128 Certains types de métiers sans pédales sont toujours utilisés de nos jours dans diverses localités égyptiennes, en particulier Nagada / Certain kinds of looms without pedals are used in various parts of Egypt Les cadres de lisses sont les pièces de métier à tisser dans lesquels passent les fils de chaîne / The heddles are the parts of the loom through which the warp threads pass 4 Le « tireur des lacs » signifie dans le jargon des métiers celui qui tire sur les cordes pour soulever les différents cadres de lisses en synchronisant son travail sur celui du tisserand / The shaft puller, in the language of weaving, is the person who pulls the cords that lift the various frames of heddles, in the order required for the motif, for the weaver to pass the weft through them 1 2 3
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