Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (14.2002(2003))

NAQLUN

EGYPT

MATS FROM THE CEMENTERY AT NAQLUN

Anetta Eyzwa-Piber

The 33 mats found at Naqlun during the
2002 season all originate from the northern
end of the Christian cemetery dated
provisionally to the 12th-13th century.1 2 3 4 5 6 7)
They were found mostly covering the
burials (and in one case also underlying
burials)21 made in wooden coffins and in
jerid crates used as coffins.31 Matting was
used also to wrap up tightly bodies buried
on jerid biers or simply laid in the ground
covered only in a shroud.

These mats (28 in all) were produced in
the basketry techniques of weaving with
one and with two strands. The remaining
five mats were made by twining and these
were all without exception found covering
the wooden coffins.
Pending specialist examination, it can
be said that palm rope was used for the
warp (or passive system)41 while the weft or
active system, whether one or two strands,
were of some kind of rushes.

MATTING MADE WITH THE ONE- AND TWO-STRAND
WEAVING TECHNIQUES

The active element (weft) in mats man-
ufactured in a technique similar to fabric-
weaving, consists of one strand (member)51
or two parallel strands (two members),
which is/are woven in two different

directions,61 up and down, around the pas-
sive elements (warps) in one plane. The
technique of single-strand weaving was
employed when the end result was to be
a plain-weave mat,71 while two-strand

1) For a discussion of the results of this year's investigations, cf. report by W. Godlewski in this volume.
2) Mat Nd.02.254 under burials T. 323 and T. 324.
3) Qafas in Arabic, crates or cages made in the pierced technique using jerid, the split mid ribs of the date palm leafs,
cf. W. Wendrich, The World According to Basketry, An Ethno-archaeological Interpretation of Basketry Production in
Egypt (CNWS: Leiden 1999), Appendix D, Glossary, 467.
4) I have followed W. Wendrich in using basketry and weaving terms concurrently: the flexible or active element = weft,
the rigid or passive element = warp. Basketry techniques have been discussed exhaustively in two recent studies:
W. Wendrich, Who is Afraid of Basketry. A Guide to Recording Basketry and Cordage for Archeologist and Ethnographers,
(CNWS: Leiden 1991), 30-85; id., The World According to Basketry, op. cit., 153-174, 289-330.
5) Strand is a general term for any length of material used to make basketry, meaning a plant member or component
making up the active, weaving element.
6) This is the orientation of the weaving system. In the case of the mats from Naqlun described here, it can go up-and-
down or be S- and Z-oriented, cf. Wendrich, The World According to Basketry, op. cit., Glossary.
7) In plain-weave matting the active element or weft consists of one strand being woven around each passive member
(warp). This means that the weft goes alternately up and down: l(over):l(under):l(over), etc., with a shift of one in the next
strand.

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