Site Qasr Ibrim Context QI05 27016/A2 Excavation year 2005

Dimensions L. 112 mm W. 16 mm Preservation state organic Fabric structure basket weave Warp and weft identified ✓

Colours Undyed yarn in system 1. Blue supplementary yarn. Pattern Banding pattern: starting at end A (starts with the narrower blue band). Band in single blue weft starts immediately at point where warp exits to start openwork. 13 blue singles/32 pairs undyed ground weave, but intended to be 33. There is a problem in the middle where one weft pair is partially missing - probably a weaving fault caused by changeover of one length of paired weft to another/36 blue singles/28 paired ground weave, but should have been 29. Weft fault as above/39 or possibly 40 single blue/38 undyed singles but intended to be 39. Same weft problem as in centre/probably 30 blue singles to direct start of openwork. Measurements: blue 5mm/ground 14mm/blue 16mm/ground 16mm/blue 18mm/single undyed 18mm/blue at end B 12mm. Pattern element band Borders Fringes. Fringe A (next to narrow band): in single strong S single warp. 19 long strands + some stubs survive. Max. length beyond openwork 82mm. Fringe B: strong S single, 24 strands + stubs. Max. length 67mm. Openwork: Crowfoot Type 2, but there is plaiting of the warp only at the outer edge of the openwork, not on the inner, against the blue weft. The plaiting, as fringe base formation, is pulled strongly to the right at one end, and to the left at the other, i.e. fringe maker works consistently right to left, or vice versa. The colour is possibly slightly paler on one side than the other and the blue at end B is darker than the rest. Fringe A: See drawing. (Fringe at end B less well preserved, but probably the same.) Pairs of warp are basic building blocks of openwork, being brought together as two pairs or separated according to pattern. The wrapping threads are in S single cotton indistinguishable from rest. They are wrapped sometimes as a pair, sometimes as a single, and mode of wrapping seems to vary across piece (Crowfoot Type 2). Emerging from openwork, the pairs of warp are then plaited round each other, drawn to the right. Exact course of plaiting could not be drafted, but inner plait row appears to be a pair worked Z, but outer, a single yarn worked Z at base of fringe. The top right hand corner is knotted off with two knots, each formed from a single warp yarn (see drawing). Loose end returns into fringe bundle. The fringe proper emerges from outer plait row as two single yarns, a pair, but not necessarily the same pair as was together in the main cloth Edges Selvedges simple. No division of paired weft. Other features Total number of warp pairs 16. Ground weft inserted in pairs. Blue weft as singles. Length including openwork both ends 112mm