String and It's Origins

[hsifeng]

Thank you topearl for posting this article.

Some thoughts it brought up:

"Until the invention of the spindle, for which the earliest current evidence is in the Neolithic (Barber 1994), the only way to create twisted fibre string was by rolling on a part of the body, normally the thigh, or twisting between the fingers. MacKenzie (1991) estimated that it took between 60-80 hours to roll enough string to manufacture one string bag, while looping the string to make the bag took another 100-160 hours. Sillitoe (1988) records the time invested by women in string-making as almost 50 per cent of their manufacturing time, while looping string took a further 35 per cent, making a total of around 85 per cent of women's manufacturing time devoted to string. In Papua New Guinea, string-making and looping were an intrinsic part of women's lives, 'no matter where a Telefolmin woman might be, whether sitting or walking, her hands are rarely idle, her fingers are perpetually working in the continuous tasks of spinning fibres and looping bilums' (MacKenzie 1991)."

In the various fiber classes I have taught over the years, I have always tried to emphasize just how much time spinning fiber took up in a common woman’s life. Even with the invention of the spindle, there was always more fiber to spin.* I have seen images of all social classes of women engaged in fiber manipulation, from spinning to fine embroidery. It was simply an expected part of every woman’s life.
 

These discussions always bring up all sorts of interesting discussions of 'women's work' and contributions to family; But I think that the point of the IMPORTANCE of this work is often missed due to modern viewpoints on anything referred to as ‘women’s labor’. This wasn’t just something that women did because they were forced to; they were better at it (see article for specifics, this isn't me bashing later period men who took up the Guild standards for this sort of work), their form of society was more apt to take up the task and it provided benefits the their entire culture (which would have suffered mightily without the contribution).
 

It is also interesting to think about the value given to fiber cloth based on the context of the time it takes to manufacture.

 

* Think of our modern ‘time saving’ devises and how much time is actually saved by using them.

Comments

[hohenstein.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of something some long-career art quilting women said. They were pioneers in the field, but it was ignored as "art" until men started doing it. Then it stopped being dismissed as "just a womans home crafty thing" & began getting write-ups in serious art magazines (usually profiling the men, from what she tells me).

A.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

This is reflected i the male/Guild take over of many of these crafts during the evolution of the town systems.

[docryder.livejournal.com]

I took the Pre-Columbian Art History at CSUF while getting my BFA. The instructor mentioned fabrics in Peru. There are scads of fairly well preserved examples from the Andes. They are sometimes found in hanging burial bundles which were made by some of the tribes and hung in the mountains. More fabric was found in caves. In both cases, it was used as part of the mummification process. The stuff in caves was usually better protected, as the caves were so cold that you essentially had an anaerobic environment freeze drying the body, and preventing rot of both the body and the fabric.

He was quick to point out that fabric making is extremely time consuming. The Peruvians of those eras (upwards of 3000 years ago) used very simple foot looms (I think that's what you'd call them; two sticks anchored at the feet and neck while sitting). With the amount of time consumed in the fabric's creation, the wealth of the dead person could be measured by the amounts of fabric the body was wrapped in.

[dravon.livejournal.com]

Did you see the information I had posted after I read "Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years" by Elizabeth Barber? I pulled out dozens of really good quotes, basically everything I highlighted as "nifty" or "important" that I might want to reference later. It's a shorthand way of reading a book without reading the book, though in this case I did a whole lot of highlighting since that was a great book.

http://dravon.livejournal.com/357854.html

Barber's theory as to why women tended to work with the textiles is that it's one of the few things which can be interupted frequently and doesn't require heavy labor, so you can watch the kids while doing it. Can't take the toddlers hunting with you, and that sort of thing. She even goes into her theories about why innovations take off or what motivates men to take over traditionally 'women's work'. An awesome book!!!!

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

*sweet!* I will have to check this book out when I get the chance. Anything that gets heavy highlighting from a fellow reader has to have good stuff in it...*grin*

I can't BELIEVE that I somehow missed your response the first time around. *blargh* I blame it on work...and since I have been out of town for most of this last week of vacation, I guess I can blame it on vacation too...*snort*

BTW - I wanted to drop you and M a note to say "Thank You" for the note we got from you (along with the infusion of green stuff). It was much appreciated and VERY helpful. *HUGS* Thank you again!