Egyptian rugs

Egypt has a rug-weaving tradition that dates back to at least the sixteenth century. In the 1950s because of import restrictions, Egypt resumed its production of handmade rugs in and around Cairo. Even though these contemporary rugs are of great quality, only a small number of them are exported. The Egyptian rugs were not made of the same material and weave as are the Oriental rugs of today. The pile surface was not made by tying wool yarn on to the warp threads. The Chinese seem to be the first to make a pile rug by tying yarn on to the warp threads of the loom. Persia acquired the art from Babylon many centuries before Christ. Since that time Persia now called Iran has held a prominent place as a rug weaving nation. An amazing discovery was made in 1949. Soviet archaeologists in the Pazyric valley, located in the Altai Mountains near the border between Russia and Outer Mongolia were excavating a series of large burial mounds of earth, roofed with stone beneath the earth, in each of which contained a buried Scythian chief. The fifth burial mound had been robbed of its' gold ornaments, along with other valuables in the 3rd century AD. Water then leaked in the roof and froze for the next 2,400 years. Frozen in the ice was a rug 6'7"x6', seriously damaged only in one corner. The Pazyric carpet dates from the 5th century BC. This rug is of fine quality having 232 knots per square inch. No one knows for sure where the rug was made. The Scythians were known to trade with the Persians. The Pazric carpet is one of the oldest surviving rugs ever found.