By John Mark Wade Daily Star 21 May 2004

Weaving has existed in the Middle East for thousands of years. And yet exactly how far back in the history of the region it goes is a matter of some debate.

However, a recent discovery of a cache of clay loom weights at Khirbat al-Mudaybi in Central Jordan is shedding new light on ancient textile crafts and industries.

While scholars have long assumed weaving was both an important cottage as well as specialized industry in ancient Moab, physical evidence for such manufacturing has not always been forthcoming. Now, the evidence that the early Mudaybi weaver left behind is permitting scholars to reconstruct the details of this ancient industry.

Khirbat al-Mudaybi is a mid-size Iron Age fort constructed around 700 BC on the eastern Karak Plateau of Central Jordan, between the king's and desert highways. During antiquity, Mudaybi was located on the edge of the eastern frontier of Moab, an Iron Age state located east of the Dead Sea.

Knowledge of Moab is not only derived from biblical sources, but also from the lengthy Mesha Inscription, an inscribed orthostat discovered in 1868 at Dhiban, the capital of the Moabites. Written by Moab's most important king, Mesha, the inscription describes how Moab regained its sovereignty from ancient Israel and established an independent state around 850 BC. After a century of independent rule, Moab lost its autonomy when it became a semi-independent client state of the Assyrian, and later, the Babylonian, empires.

Three seasons of excavations carried out by the Karak Resources Project in the last three years have revealed that sturdy basalt and limestone walls, towers and gates enclosed the settlement. Most notable is the four-chambered monumental eastern gate where volute capitals rest on top of each pier wall, supporting stone lintels, wood beams, and a roof of mud and reeds. The gate faces the Fajj al-Usaykir, an important commercial route connecting the Arabian Desert with the interior of the Karak Plateau. Given the fort's strategic position, it is likely Mudaybi protected ancient Moab's eastern frontier and provided security for passing caravans.

Given their assumptions about the military function of Mudaybi, the excavation team was surprised to discover a weaving installation in the fort's domestic quarter. Here, at least 68 small, perforated clay loom weights were concentrated in the northwest corner of one of the rooms. Each weight was hand-molded from local clay into a round or cylindrical shape, ranging from 32 millimeters to 61 millimeters in height, 48mm to 86mm in width, and weighed from 70 to 437 grams. Multiple threads could be strung through a perforation in each weight, and multiple weights may have been needed for each group of warp - or vertical - threads to provide the necessary tension for weaving. This tension allowed the weaver to integrate weft - the horizontal thread - and warp.

The Mudaybi loom weights were used on a vertical warp-weighted loom that was suspended from a wood stand or hung from the ceiling. Wool fibers spun into long threads were tied to a beam at the top of the loom. Since the excess could be tied off at the bottom of the loom, threads could be of any length. Textile woven on a vertical loom could be almost any length, since more thread could be tied on at the end of each run. The only limit was the amount of textile that could be rolled onto the beam at the top of the loom. The Mudaybi team suspects these looms were portable and could be easily moved from place to place. Unfortunately, neither evidence of a loom nor any weaving tools have been excavated in the fort. A senior researcher from the Institute of Archaeology, Andrews University, observed, "the discovery of so many loom weights makes me wonder if perhaps carpets or tents were being produced in this location by a family or specialized craftsman."

Weaving was not the only activity taking place in this room. Aside from the cache of loom weights, evidence for food preparation was excavated including a small tabun - or cooking oven - as well as a grain-grinding installation. Typical Iron Age II bowls, jars, and a lamp were scattered on the floor, strengthening the room's domestic interpretation. Dr. Larry Herr, director of the Madaba Plains Project in Jordan, said "It's enthralling to discover the domestic side of the Mudaybi fort. That weaving and cooking activities occurred side-by-side suggests to me that women may have lived in the fort, as well."

Ancient literary sources and models from Egypt depict weaving as traditionally the work of women.

Historical sources suggest the Moabites were famous for their wool, and sheep and goat herding was a likely mainstay of communities across the region. King Mesha was a sheep breeder and reports that Ahab demanded tribute of "the wool of 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams" during Israel's occupation of the region. The successive Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian empires likely sought the same valuable commodity from the Moabite herds when the region fell under their control. Archaeological evidence for the industry's import is obvious by the recovered faunal evidence from the Mudaybi excavations. Given that excavations have recovered this single loom, it is still too soon to determine the degree to which weaving was a specialized industry that produced cloth for trade. At the very least, excavations suggest the Mudaybi weaver produced enough for their family, if not more.

Still, several questions remain unanswered about weaving technology at Mudaybi. What type of textiles were the weavers at Mudaybi making? What width and length of textile is needed to make a garment? Were the products being made for domestic consumption or trade? Is it possible to determine the size of the loom based on the dimensions in the room where the weights were discovered and the number of weights? These questions and many more will hopefully be answered in future seasons of excavation work where more loom weights as well as spinning and weaving tools may be found in the unexcavated portions of the room.