Part 2 (2/2)
_Reproduced by kind permission of Dr Clubb, Director, The Museu taper were indicated by a decrease in the width of the pattern coht be presumed that a reed had been used for the central portion only--a very cluins to decrease along the middle and hence no reed could have been used
It does not follow that because a loom was not provided with a reed it ithout heddles Anyone ill exae series of primitive looms at Bankfield Museum, will observe that heddles preceded reeds; thisof the shed is the first step in weaving, while the reed's work is more that of a finisher But the heddles are all extremely primitive, and in my experience do not exceed four in number where there is no reed Such a quantity of heddles with its complicated harness as Mr Lee considers necessary is quite out of the question with a loom so undeveloped as not to be provided with a reed Hence the indication is that the girdle oven on a loo out the work the weaver has ht hand row of red crosses (they coraph) there is an ”end down” for a considerable distance--that is a thread has been missed
On the same row of crosses three white threads show above and belohile on the left hand row of crosses there are five white threads above and below The crosses are neither the same size nor shape in the two columns and curiously their white hafts in both colu to the left and the other to the right Then again the white point at the right apex of the zigzag on the left corresponds to a red point at the left apex of the right hand zigzag, but if the girdle had been woven on an advanced loom with dobby and harness these points would have been red in both places
As regards the large number of warp threads to the inch which Mr Lee puts down as 272-340 (107-134 per cm), this does not by any means indicate a co of this belt or any other fabric The greater the number of threads to the inch the finer et the there will be so many more threads to raise and lower in order tothe work but does not necessarily
It is not possible without opening the fabric to be quite positive on theabout it which should prevent its having been h superior to most, but not all, of the well known Coptic cloths in Bankfield and in many other museums, it very closely rese in the taper
I should add that in irdle I was kindly assisted by Mr C A Trigg, a well known Halifax ner Wenotes afterwards found that we agreed in all essential points
AN EXAMINATION OF FIFTEEN SPECIMENS OF MUMMY WRAPPINGS
By W W MIDGLEY, Curator, retired, The Museums, Bolton
”So far back as 1834, Mummy cloths occupied the attention of James Thompson, FRS, who, after researches into their characteristics and structure wrote a paper on the subject, which appears in the London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, Vol V, page 355 Froe on the subject has appeared In the early part of 1910, Prof W M Flinders Petrie, FRS, expressed a desire that the writer should undertake s of cloths of the III
and early IV Dynasties (_circa_ 2980-2750 BC) which he had brought hoypt The report upon them forms part of the ”_Historical Studies_,” Vol II, of the _British School of Archaeology in Egypt_
When Mr Ling Roth suggested that soyptian Mummy cloths in Bankfield Museu the construction of the fabrics and yarns, together with the characteristics of the fibres used, I undertook to carry out the work and forward to him the results for permanent reference
Each of the fifteen cloths sub about 3/4” 5/8” (20 lass slips, and covering with thin glass, so as to find out its plan of composition and the number of warp and weft threads per linear inch Afterwards, a little of the warp threads as well as of the weft, was untwisted and the fibres separated, and these mounted apart on another 3” 1” slip (76 25 mm), so that the kind of textile fibre used and the diameter of the fibres could be measured
These microscopical preparations will be kept in Bankfield Museum, as they may be of interest to microscopists in the locality
The cloths are fro froiven the specimens to Bankfield Museum; Nos 3 to 8 are from the old Meyer collection in the Liverpool Museuin of them is unknown); and those marked 9 to 15 were taken froht to this country by Lord Denbigh, and now also in the Liverpool Museum
A--Specimens of Mummy cloths from Theban Toe
1 A plain ”one-up-and-one-down” linen cloth The yarns in this exaular in dia from 1/25”th to 1/71”st (1 mm to 2/8 mm) The warp has about half its strands doubled (that is twined together), whereas the weft has only about one in twenty doubled See Fig 26
2 This is a coarser fabric, has been dyed with saffron, and is somewhat brittle to tease out the fibres Both these cloths had evidently absorbed so, and hence the difficulty of separating the fibres for identification is increased The structure of the fabric is peculiar, and, indeed, the only instance I have seen in Egyptian cloths A portion, near the middle of the piece sent, has the warp strands in pairs parallel to each other, a few of the double yarns, while all the remainder are doubled Of the weft, nearly half are double yarns See Fig 27
[Illustration: Fig 26--Magnified 10 dianified 10 dia the warp yarn in pairs]
B--Specimens from the Meyer Collection, marked No 11088 (Date of acquisition about 1856; date and place of origin unknown)
3 This is a beautifully soft, fine _Wool_ fabric, containing no size or balsam From the fineness of the yarn and of the individual fibres I have no doubt that the wool has been imported from India, or, more likely, that the cloth was e edge, the warp yarns are doubled, while the weft is single yarn It is retted that the particulars of locality, of burial, and the period of tis has been lost I assueneral characteristics that it is of a late period--probably not earlier than the Ptoleular weave, and contains no size About 25 of both warp and weft yarns are doubled, and all are very even in diae All the yarns are single and even in diahly-sized linen cloth The yarns are agglutinated, are brittle, and it is difficult to separate the fibres The sample submitted has been cut from the end of the piece and shows the warp ends