What Hair Is This?

[Holliday Anderson Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Holliday Anderson]

Hello! I'm new to rugs, but learning so much from all of you -- thank you!!! I have this Anatolian kilim that I've been wondering about. It's in ok condition, but with a few holes, and then it has these three hanks of hair sort of loosely knotted in. At first glance I thought it was wool that had unraveled, but upon closer inspection it is light brown hair, about 6 or 7 inches at the longest. It looks like human hair! But I know that goat hair would have been used in actual tribal textile weaving. So my questions are -- what do you think this hair is, and why is it on this kilim? It doesn't seem to be marking damaged spots, or contributing to the design. Did it have a function, or?... I would love to hear any thoughts or ideas.

[Chuck Wagner Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Chuck Wagner]

Hi Holliday,

There are some references to the use of human hair in Anatolian weavings. There's no way to know for certain without some laboratory work. Alternatives might be hair from the mane of a donkey or horse, I suppose. Regardless, here's a link to one reference, below. Perhaps others will add their thoughts.

Regards
Chuck Wagner
https://museum.gwu.edu/sites/g/files...0Catalogue.pdf

[Holliday Anderson Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Holliday Anderson]

Thank you so much, Chuck. I will read through this. I had never heard of or seen hair (animal or otherwise) being used in this way on a kilim, but I guess I should not be surprised, given the use of horse-hair and goat-hair tassels on other tent items and trappings. My current best guess is that the hair is attached so that when the kilim is folded up it forms a fringe along the folded edge, but it's just a guess. I would love to hear any other ideas on function or hear of other examples of this type of decoration.

Holly Anderson

[PaulSmith Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PaulSmith]

Hi Holly,

This little Chodor Turkmen amulet appears to have used the locks of the woman weaving it as fringe. I was told that a Turkmen woman would cut her hair when she married and the hair would be used in ritual ways like this, but I don't know.

Paul

[Holliday Anderson Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Holliday Anderson]

Thank you, Paul. That is very interesting!

Holly

[Joe Lawrence Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe Lawrence]

From Kilim.com