The Roots

of Asian Weaving
The He Haiyan collection of textiles
and looms from Southwest China

Eric Boudot & Chris Buckley

Oxbow Books
Oxford & Philadelphia
Contents
Acknowledgments vi
Preliminary note vii
Foreword by He Haiyan x

Part I: Background
Introduction 2
Chapter 1: cultural and historical context 8
Chapter 2: textiles and looms in ancient Chinese culture 20
Chapter 3: introduction to the looms and brocades of Southwest China 46

Part II: Field Research

Chapter 4: the Miao-Yao peoples
4.1 The Miao 56
Hand insertion of supplementary wefts
4.2 Guangxi Antai area 58
4.3 Guizhou Panxian area 70
4.4 Guizhou Zhaoxing area 78
4.5 Guizhou Zhouxi area 88

Hand insertion of supplementary wefts aided by tubes & layers

4.6 Guizhou Bakai area 96
4.7 Guizhou Geyi area 106
4.8 Guizhou Huishui area 122
4.9 Guizhou Shidong area 132
4.10 Guizhou Huangping area 142
4.11 Guizhou Liuhe area 144
4.12 Guizhou Biasha area 145
4.13 Guizhou Qiandongnan area 146
4.14 Guizhou Rongjiang area 148
4.15 Guizhou Bijie area 149
4.16 Guizhou Songtao area 150
4.17 The Yao 154
4.18 Guangxi Longji area (Hong Yao) 156
4.19 Hunan Jianghua area 164
4.20 Guangxi Jinxiu area 174
4.21 Guangxi Bama and Duan areas 178

Chapter 5: the Daic (Tai-Kadai) peoples

5.1 Introduction 180
5.2 A note about Daic Complex Pattern Heddles 182
5.3 The Li 186
192
5.4 Hainan Donghezhen (Meifu Li)
5.5 Hainan Wuzhishan (Qi Li) 200
5.6 Ha Li 204
5.7 Run Li 212

5.8 The Buyi 216

5.9 Guizhou Libo area 218
5.10 Guizhou Xingyi area 232
5.11 Guizhou Changshun area 244
5.12 Guizhou Qiannan area 252

5.13 The Dong 258

5.14 Hunan Tongdao area 260
5.15 Guizhou Bazhai area 272
5.16 Guizhou Liping area 282

5.17 The Maonan 292

5.18 Guangxi Huanjiang area 294

5.19 The Mulao, Guangxi Huanjiang area 309

5.20 The Zhuang 312
5.21 Guangxi Binyang area 314
5.22 Guangxi Jingxi area 328
5.23 Guangxi Napo area 336
5.24 Yunnan Funing area 346
5.25 Yunnan Wenshan area 350
5.26 Yunnan Qiubei area 356
5.27 Guangxi Baise area 358
5.28 The Dai 360
5.29 Yunnan Yingjiang area 362
5.30 South Yunnan area 368

Chapter 6: the Sinitic peoples

6.1 The Tujia 372
6.2 Hunan Longshan area 374

Part III: Analysis

Chapter 7: the evolution of the Asian loom
7.1 Introduction 400
7.2 Methods and results 401
7.3 Loom evolution: a narrative 406
7.4 Loom evolution: a geographical model 418
7.5 The Chinese Drawloom 422

Appendices
1. A note on the interpretation of the Rhapsody on Women Weavers 428
430
2. Minority textiles as tribute to the Chinese court
3. Traditional natural dyes and fibres 432
4. Myths and deities related to weaving 438
5. Phylogenetic methods 439

Glossaries of loom and weaving terms 450

Bibliography 459

Index 465
 Acknowledgements

The Authors would like to thank the weavers of Southwest
China and Hainan, who have patiently answered our
questions, demonstrated their weaving techniques and
shown us hospitality. Our main contributors are named
in the fieldwork sections of this book. We had many
memorable experiences and we hope that they gained
something too. We also hope they will feel that this book
represents a fair attempt at recording the complexities of
their art.
We thank Don J Cohn, noted Sinologist and textile
expert, who read and commented on the majority of this
book, on a voluntary basis. His comments helped us to
avoid a great many pitfalls for the unwary and have made
this book immeasurably better. We also thank Oxbow
books for perceiving value in our work and for agreeing
to publish it as part of their Ancient Textiles series, and
Farhad Adineh for his valuable help with the layout.
EB: I would first like to thank my wife Li Fang for her
patience, and for sharing with me her deep understanding
and knowledge of textiles and peoples during all these
years of research and writing, as well as my daughter
Violette for her inspiring enthusiasm and joy, and my
parents and grandparents for instilling a love of learning
from an early age.
I feel most indebted to Michel Gelenine who, while acting
French Consul in Guangzhou in the 1980s, was at the
origin of my decision to explore and study ethnic textiles
in Southwest China, and to Donald Dinwiddie who
gave me the confidence and the opportunity to publish
my first article on the subject in Orientations magazine
in 1994, and who has supported my writing projects ever
since. I am very grateful to Marie-Helene Guelton who, as
Director of Textile Analysis at the Lyons textile Museum,
generously shared her passion for, and eminent knowledge
of the intricate inner structure of weavings. Thanks to
Farhad for his precious help with the layout.
I also would like to thank Pr. Yang Wenbing, one of the
leading specialists in Miao textiles and dyes in Guizhou,
for his continuous help and support; Yang Tongheng,
who, as a dedicated driver and assistant for several years,
made the field research and the loom collection a success.
I thank Chris Hall for his constant encouragement and
backing, as well as Dr Alain Thote whose enthusiasm
for the book concept has been inspiring from the early
stages of the project. My most grateful thanks go to He
Haiyan, passionate textile creator and collector from
Beijing, without whom this book would never have
been accomplished. And Chris Buckley whose patience,
perseverance, scientific approach and enlightened vision
allowed this book to become what it is.
CB: my thanks to Cai Yu Liang and the weavers at
Donghezhen and Wuzhishan on Hainan for their time
and enthusiasm. I would also like to thank Susan Stem,
Deb Swingholm, Pamela Cross, Gina Corrigan and Deb
McClintock for sharing information on weaving traditions
in North Thailand and Vietnam, which provided valuable
comparative material for this study. I also thank Steven
Frost, my enthusiastic and knowledgeable travelling
companion in Guizhou and Yunnan, and Shelagh
Reynolds for continuing forbearance and support.
I thank Eric Boudot for friendship and a most interesting
and intellectually stimulating partnership: I think Eric
feels, as I do, that the product of our collaboration is more
than the sum of its parts.
Author Contributions
Introduction and Chapters 13: EB and CB.
Part II: EB (except Hainan: CB).
Part III: CB.
Appendices: EB and CB.
All maps, drawings and photographs are by the authors,
except where indicated. Book design and layout by the
authors.

vi
Preliminary Notes
Textile terminology
In this book we use the term brocade as a shorthand for
textiles decorated with supplementary wefts (continuous
and/or discontinuous), and brocading to mean the
process of making these textiles. We use this term to
describe textile structures, not the materials used. Brocade,
under our definition, can be made with any type of fibre
(cotton, silk or other) playing the role of warp or weft.
Using these shorthand terms spares us and our readers
from repetition of the cumbersome textile decorated
with supplementary wefts. Brocade has a variety
of alternative meanings (often rather imprecise) in
other texts, however. Textile scholar Irene Emery
recommendedagainst the use of this term [Emery 1966]
and it is not part of the nomenclature recommended by
the Centre International dEtude des Textiles Anciens
(CIETA). The Chinese term jin , referring to an ancient
type of textile, is also translated as brocade in some
works. We refer to these textiles as jin or jin brocades.
The variety of textile structures is limitless, and any attempt
at a comprehensive and consistent terminology inevitably
runs into exceptions and ambiguities. For example, in
some cases there is no clear distinction between ground
and supplementary wefts. Such terms should be regarded
as a first approximation: refer to our detailed analyses of
woven structures for a complete description.
Dimensions of textiles are given in centimetres. For
bedcovers and other items with borders, the dimensions
refer to the main textile, excluding the border, unless
otherwise noted.
Regional definitions
For the purposes of this book, our definition of Asia
extends from the Indian border in the west to Japan in the
east. It includes three sub-regions:
Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA): Burma, Thailand,
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia
East Asia: China, Japan and Korea
Island Southeast Asia (ISEA): Indonesia, Philippines,
East Timor and Papua New Guinea.
Classification of Ethnic Groups
No universal definition of ethnicity exists, and all
categorizations must be treated as working definitions.
One approach to characterizing ethnicity is to use a
cultural marker of some kind. Textiles and styles of dress
have sometimes been used in this manner, and many
informal names of minority groups in China are based on
features of dress and coiffure. The definitions used by most
scholars, however, and the ones that we have followed, are
based on language and location.
In the case of the Cao Miao and the Jianghua Yao there
are disagreements between scholars on the linguistic
affiliations of these groups. We discuss the Cao Miao in
the Miao-Yao section and the Jianghua Yao in the Yao
section, but these choices are to some extent arbitrary.
Fieldwork
The central chapters of this book are based on fieldwork
carried out from 2005. They are based on conversations
with weavers, and we have attempted to report their
weaving techniques and views on weaving culture and local
history as accurately as possible. Historical information
that we were given has not been checked against other
sources and should be regarded as the personal views of
the individual interviewees.
Dialect terms
In the fieldwork chapters of this book we give loom and
weaving-related terms in the local dialect. These are the
verbatim responses of the weavers interviewed to the
question, what do you call this item?. In most cases
this corresponds to the dialect of the weaver. This is not
necessarily a pure local language, and often includes
elements from dialects of Han Chinese that are spoken
in the area. We have rendered these local terms in pinyin,
in the case of terms that lend themselves to this system,
modified as appropriate. We are not linguists and we have
not given phonetic renderings.
vii
The Roots of Asian Weaving

Loom descriptions
In our descriptions of looms, the front of the loom refers
to the part nearest to the weaver, and the back refers to
the warp beam. However, when describing the movements
of the weaver, e.g. pulling back or leaning forward we
use these in the intuitive sense relating to the weavers
body, meaning pulling back away from the warp beam or
leaning in towards the warp beam, respectively.
We describe back-tensioned looms that are used at ground-
level (or near to it) as simple back-tensioned looms, to
distinguish them from more complex back-tensioned
looms with frames that incorporate a raised seat for the
weaver. The term simple is used here in a relative sense:
many of the loom setups and techniques used on simple
looms are nevertheless quite complex.

Monetary values
We quote the values of some items in Chinese currency,
renminbi (RMB). To put these values in perspective, at
the time that we began writing in 2013, 1 kilogramme
of pork cost 12 to 15 RMB, 1 kilogramme of rice around
4 RMB, a pack of cigarettes around 10 RMB, and 1
kilogramme of silk yarn 400 RMB. The monthly salary
of a migrant worker in cities was between 600 and 2000
RMB. During this period, 1USD = 6.2 RMB, 1 Euro =
8 RMB approximately.

Navigating this book

The fieldwork chapters (Part II) are organized by
ethnolinguistic group. A brief description of each group is
followed by subsections by area, each of which corresponds
to a distinct weaving tradition. In cases where we were able
to find active weavers these subsections include detailed
descriptions of looms and technique. Other areas, where
we were not able to find active weavers, receive shorter
treatments.

Figure numbering
Figures are numbered beginning with Fig.1 in each
subsection. Figures within a section are referred to by a
figure number alone. Figures in other parts of the book
are referred to by the figure number and section number.

Facing page: festival skirt for an unmarried woman, from Hainan. Woven on a foot-braced back tensioned loom by a Li weaver of the Meifu
subgroup. The skirt is composed of bands decorated with warp ikat and warp patterning, and includes a band of silk supplementary weft
on a cotton ground. Nineteenth or early part of the twentieth century. Dimensions: 60 cm 80 cm. He Haiyan collection (See Chapter 5).

viii
 Part I
Background
Fig. 1 (Previous pages) detail of a Dong wedding bedcover from Bazhai in Liping county, Southeast Guizhou (see Chapter 5, Section 5.15).
Made of silk, cotton and ramie, coloured with vegetable dyes. Nineteenth century or earlier. Private collection. The discovery of this unusual
and very old textile, from a tradition that appears to have been completely lost, provided the initial impetus for our study.

Fig. 2 (This page) rubbing of a stone carving from a Han dynasty tomb, showing a domestic weaving scene.

2
Introduction
This book describes the weaving traditions of Southwest
China, and places them within the wider context of
weaving traditions in Asia. Our particular focus is textiles
that are made and decorated on the loom, as opposed
to embroidery, batik and other techniques that are added
after weaving. This is partly because this is a neglected
area, and partly because loom-based techniques are
conservative in nature, so they capture some of the oldest
aspects of weaving.1 Looms and the patterns encoded on
them are complex devices, and weavers are correspondingly
reluctant to alter them, so they tend to be passed intact
from generation to generation. In contrast, a young
woman creating embroidery or appliqu is relatively free
to follow her own preferences or the fashion of the season.
The weavers of Southwest China are exclusively female,
and they traditionally produced textiles mainly for their
own use or the use of their families. This follows a general
pattern across Asia (and many other parts of the world) in
which women weave textiles that will be used within their
own communities. Men, in contrast, only tend to become
involved if weaving is the basis of a trade.
We begin, in Part I, by describing the background to our
study. A central part of this is an explanation of why we
have devoted a great deal of attention to a relatively small,
upland region, located in the border area where China
meets Southeast Asia. As we will show, this region is both
a centre of cultural diversity, and a key to understanding
other textile traditions and weaving methods in the Asian
region, including Han Chinese textiles.
In Part II of this book we present our field research,
conducted over the past decade. This includes many looms
and techniques that have never been documented before.
We have tracked down some of the last remaining weavers
able to demonstrate their skills with their looms. Some of
these traditions that formerly existed are now known only
from a handful of surviving examples of textiles (Fig. 1),
though in some cases we can reconstruct the techniques
that were formerly used by comparison with neighbouring
traditions.
1
The anthropologist Junius Bird was amongst the first to recognise
and advocate the study of weaving technique [Bird 1960].
Our documentation of looms and weaving is accompanied
by examples of textiles decorated with supplementary weft-
patterning. As with the looms, these include types that
have never been published before. Readers who have some
familiarity with the costumes and accessories of minority
groups in Southwest China may be prompted to ask why
have I not seen these before. One reason is that previous
publications2 have tended to focus on costume (jackets,
skirts, baby carriers), on which the primary decorative
techniques are embroidery, appliqu and batik. Another
reason relates to age: supplementary weft techniques have
been falling into disuse at a faster rate than appliqu
and embroidery. Most of the textiles reproduced in this
book were made before 1950, with some dating to the
nineteenth century or even earlier.
In Part III of this book we venture beyond the descriptive,
and carry out a comparative analysis, using contemporary
techniques borrowed from linguistics and biology. The
results shed light on the wider development of textile
cultures in Asia, and we will show that the traditions
of Southwest China preserve many of the critical
developments in the evolution of looms and weaving
technology. This includes aspects of the Han Chinese
textile tradition, such as the source of the patterning
technology of the Drawloom.
2
Publications in English dealing with the textiles of Southwest China
include Clothing and Ornaments of Chinas Minorities, published by
the Cultural Palace of Nationalities [1985] as well as books by Theresa
Reilly [1988], Gina Corrigan [2001], Sadae Torimaru [2001, 2004],
the University of Hawaii [2009] and the Metersbonwe Museum in
Shanghai [2007] (Chinese with English captions). Tujia brocade
weaving is documented in books by Tian Ming [2009] and Zuo
Hanzhong [1994]. There are also many publications by regional
museums in China, though these are concerned mainly with examples
of costume produced since 1950.
3
The Roots of Asian Weaving
The Han Chinese silk weaving tradition
In the study of Asian textiles, much has been written about
Han Chinese textiles, especially silk.3 This celebrated
tradition was centred around the production of luxurious
textiles for the court, and for the representatives of the
emperor who administered his domain. Robes, badges
and other insignia denoted rank, and great importance
was placed on obtaining supplies of high quality textiles.
The Han Chinese custom of burying the elite dressed in
finery, coupled with a dry climate conducive to textile
preservation (especially in northern regions) has meant that
museums are well-supplied with examples of early textiles
from this tradition, and its history and development are
well understood, at least in relative terms.4
Aside from spectacular costumes and woven textiles, Han
Chinese weaving is associated with production in organized
workshops, and (eventually) with the development of a
specialized looms such as the Chinese Drawloom, capable
of producing complex designs, repetitively and to order.
The history and development of this loom has been a
central theme for textile researchers. Its early history has
been a puzzle however, particularly the development of its
most important feature, the patterning system that records
the design in the form of cords organized in a matrix.
3
Publications relating to the Han Chinese silk weaving tradition
include the review Chinese Silks by Kuhn and his co-authors [2012],
works by Zhao Feng [1999, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2014], Chinese Silk
by Shelagh Vainker [2004], Chinese Dress by Verity Wilson [1986], a
study of motifs by Gao Hanyu [1992], exhibition catalogues by John
Vollmer: Silk for Thrones and Altars [2003], Robert Jacobsen: Imperial
Silks [2000], Paul Haig and Maria Shelton: Threads of Gold [2006],
Huang Nengfu: Seven Thousand Years of Chinese Silks [2002], James
Watt: When Silk Was Gold [1997], Claudia Brown: Weaving Chinas
Past [2000], Ho Kam-Chuen: Heavens Embroidered Cloths [1995] and
Chris Hall et al: Power Dressing: Textiles for Rulers and Priests [2006].
As the titles make clear, these works attest a continuing fascination
with silk textiles produced for the elite.
4
Burials of high-status individuals frequently included luxurious
silks. Finds of silk from the early period include those from Mashan
in Hubei, dating to the Chu kingdom (BCE 863 221 CE), the
Warring States period tomb at Baoshan in Hubei and the Han
dynasty Mawangdui tomb in Changsha, Hunan. Numerous tombs
from later periods have also yielded textiles. Another important source
of early textiles are the caches of religious materials from Dunhuang
and related sites, many of which are now in overseas collections [Zhao
Feng 2007, 2011], and burials at Niya, Yingpan, Dulan and other
sites in the dry Northwest provinces, dating from the Han to the
early Tang [Zhao Feng 2002]. The original archaeological reports for
these finds are difficult to obtain except in specialised libraries, but
they are summarized in Chinese Silks [Kuhn 2012] and the series of
publications edited by Zhao Feng (see Bibliography). More humble
fabrics are sometimes found in tombs, but these generally receive scant
attention in archaeological reports.
4
Fig. 3 (Facing page) detail of a Maonan wedding bedcover (see
Section 5.18, page 293). Silk and cotton, natural and synthetic
dyes, Huanjiang county, Guangxi province. He Haiyan collection.
A Diversity of Traditions
The Han Chinese tradition represents just one of the many
weaving traditions within the borders of modern China,
albeit the one that is the best known. The Chinese nation
is officially made up of 55 nationalities, and numerous
other weaving traditions exist within its borders. Of the 55
official nationalities, 28 have their homelands in a relatively
small region of Southwest China,5 centred on the provinces
of Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan, and including parts of
Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong and Hainan. This area is
correspondingly extremely rich in ethnic and linguistic
diversity,6 and includes an astonishing variety of weaving.
To put this in perspective, silk textiles in the Han Chinese
tradition have been woven (at least until recent historical
times) on similar looms in commercial workshops in cities
as widely separated as Chengdu, Hangzhou and Beijing.
A Chinese weaver walking into any of these workshops
would immediately recognize the looms, techniques and
decorative styles employed. In contrast, in the course
of our research we were able to find a greater variety of
looms, techniques and styles of decoration in a single
province (Guizhou) than in the entirety of Han-Chinese
speaking China. Within Southwest China as a whole we
can find most of the major types of loom that are used in
Asia.7 These looms range from the most basic ground-level
body-tensioned looms to sophisticated frame looms with
patterning devices of breathtaking complexity.
To appreciate why a relatively small, upland region came
to be of such importance, some background in the history
and pre-history of the region is required, which we discuss
in Chapter 1. The central point is that the diversity of the
region consists not merely in the total number of different
languages and peoples, impressive though this is, but in the
deep roots that many groups have within this region. They
include speakers of four major Asian language families
(phyla): Daic (Tai-Kadai), Austro-Asiatic, Miao-Yao and
Sino-Tibetan. The Han Chinese language (Mandarin
and its various dialects), which predominates over a vast
region to the east, is but one member of the Sino-Tibetan
language family.
5
Officially recognised ethnic groups that have their homelands within
our core study area, comprising the provinces of Guizhou, Guangxi,
Yunnan, Hainan and parts of Guangdong, Hunan and Sichuan,
include the Achang, Bai, Blang, Buyi, Dai, Deang, Dong, Gelao,
Hani, Jing, Jinuo, Jingpo, Lahu, Li, Lisu, Maonan, Miao, Mulao,
Naxi, Nu, Pumi, Qiang, Shui, Tujia, Wa, Yao, Yi and Zhuang.
6
See note on ethnicity in Preliminary Notes.
7
See our definition of Asia in Preliminary Notes.
The Roots of Asian Weaving

6

Textile focus and terminology
As mentioned, we are concerned with textiles with
decoration added on the loom, primarily supplementary
weft. We use the term brocade as shorthand to denote
textiles decorated with supplementary wefts, both
continuous and discontinuous (see Preliminary Note).
We also review some warp-patterned textiles, such as those
made by the Yao people of the Jianghua area, although
this technique is less common today than weft-patterning.
Tradition and change
Our fieldwork has been carried out with a sense of urgency,
against a background of the steady loss of traditional skills
and cultural knowledge. Since the 1980s, great economic
changes have taken place in Southwest China, lifting
millions out of poverty as well as creating opportunities
for education and employment for rural people. As a
direct consequence, few young women are learning to
weave and even fewer to spin yarn from locally grown
fibres or to dye using traditional methods. The norm for
most young people in Southwest China today is to travel
to a distant province, leaving children behind in the care
of grandparents. This gives them little or no time to learn
weaving. Some notable exceptions to this trend exist such
as the government sponsored workshops of the Zhuang
weavers, but weaving in Southwest China in the twenty-
first century presents a picture of loss of diversity and a
reduction and simplification of skills. Brocade weaving is
often the first traditional craft to disappear because of its
complexity.
Embroidery is more resilient: it requires simple equipment
(a needle and thread) and can be applied to shop-bought
cloth. Miao people in the Panxian area, for example,
now produce embroidered versions of their traditional
garments, which they formerly made on the loom
using supplementary weft techniques. The fieldwork
carried out for this book, which includes descriptions
of functioning looms and weaving techniques on video
and in photographs, and our interviews with weavers, is
therefore a unique record of disappearing cultures.
Pattern and motif
The study of textile motifs generated much interest among
twentieth century anthropologists. A classic example is
the analysis of Indonesian motifs by Jager Gerlings [1952],
who, like other researchers of the period, sought meaning
in motifs, and whose publications include interpretations
with religious or mythological overtones. The origins
Fig. 4 (Facing page) brocaded wedding bag, Dong people, Liping county in Guizhou. 45 cm 32 cm, silk and cotton, vegetable dyes.
Nineteenth century. He Haiyan collection.
Introduction
of this type of thinking can be traced back to psycho-
analytical approaches to the art of primitive cultures
that were in vogue during the early part of the twentieth
century. A fascination with hidden meanings persists
amongst some writers to this day, though we have found
little or no evidence to support such interpretations in our
surveys.
There is no doubt that weavers, when pressed by eager
researchers, may supply mythological interpretations of
their motifs. However, in our experience of interviewing
weavers we found that while some motifs have names, few
are associated with complex symbolism. The meanings
that do attach to motifs are usually associated with luck,
good fortune, or protection such as the White Tiger
motif used by the Tujia to decorate baby blankets, which
is supposed to keep the infant from harm (Chapter 6,
Section 6.2). The names that are given to particular motifs
also tend to differ between one weaver and her neighbour,
suggesting that while motifs may be transmitted faithfully,
meanings are generally not.
There are exceptions, such as accessible and commercially
minded weaving groups and textile traders, who have
learned that visitors expect to be provided with stories
and enjoy mythological explanations. Other exceptions
are weaving traditions that have absorbed traditional
Han Chinese iconography, with its auspicious motifs
and rebuses (for good fortune, longevity, success in the
imperial examinations, birth of sons) based on word-play
and homophones. These meanings tend to become lost or
blurred, however, the further one moves (figuratively and
literally) from their Han Chinese origins.
This is not to say that motifs have no importance to
weavers. On the contrary, the accurate reproduction and
placing of a traditional pattern is of crucial importance in
the evaluation of a weavers skill within her community.
Motifs and designs are also jealously guarded and regarded
as the property of one particular group of weavers. In this
sense they are an expression of local identity, rather than a
matter of religious or mystical significance.
The study of motifs, particularly when taken in the
aggregate, can also reveal the lineage of and connections
among different weaving traditions [Buckley 2012].
In this study we focus on loom technology and textile
structures, which provide another route to uncovering
deep connections between weaving traditions.