Twill on the warp-weighted loom: reconsidering double-notched supports

Abstract

In the 1970s, five wooden artefacts were extracted from the medieval layers in Trondheim (Norway). These implements, 30–34 cm in length with a notch at one end and in the middle, were interpreted as attachments for the warp-weighted loom, a factor of keen interest to textile historians. Even before these implements were documented, a theory developed for how “double-notched heddle-rod supports” could be used for weaving 2/2 twill. Other methods for weaving twill on this loom have been proposed over time, with and without reference to the Icelandic method drawn from 18th to 19th century records, but no other interpretation for how double-notched supports may have been used has been presented. In this research, the role of these supports is reimagined, and an alternative method is proposed for how 2/2 twill may have been woven. It is as effective, and more straightforward and intuitive than the previously proposed method.