Pirtanauhasivusto

Dr. Karina Grömer recently posted a repp band dated to 1100 BCE. This means that band weaving in some form has existed for over 3000 years. The earliest rigid heddles have been found in the Roman empire, dated 100-400 CE. To the northern Europe the rigid heddle arrived during the Middle Ages and at least four rigid heddles are known from the Nordic countries from that era. From Swedish sources we know of both repp bands and simple pickup bands, but the earliest Baltic pickup bands that I have found are in the Estonian museum database and are dated to 1740. The Finnish museum database has suitable pattern heddles from the 18th century, but the bands are from the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century; however, this may have more to do with the creation of the museum collections than anything else.