Matting and basketry
Tejido de estera y cestería de junco
- Date
- c. 7000 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Çatalhöyük, Konya, Turkey
- Credited to
- Neolithic communities of central Anatolia
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Reed and bulrush mats covering house floors, and spiral-coiled baskets for grain, with impressions preserved beneath lime plaster. The textile technique preceding the loom and the lightweight container before pottery.
Earlier basketry exists in Peru (Guitarrero, c. 8000 BCE) and the Fayum; this is a technique with multiple independent origins.
What it led to
- Storage and transport of grain before and alongside pottery
- More hygienic, comfortable housing
- The origin of weave structures (twill, plain weave) later carried over to the loom
Built on
- Cordage (twisted fibre string)c. 50 ka
- Reed gathering