Turkish Rug and kilim
Although no one knows presicely when and where the technique of weaving first started, There is no doubt that the weaving art, in general, started in Central Asia. A popular explosion coused the inhabitants of that area to migrate to the western parts of Asia in order to find more presperous land. These migrating tribes were caled yoruks or nomadic tribes. During their migrations, these nomads, who were exposed to severe weather conditions, learned to use goat hair in the making of their tents. Goat hair is longer and much siffer than sheep's wool. The flatweave technique was used in the making of nomadic tents.

Just as with a little girl's braided pony-tail where strants of the shorter and stiffer hair stick out, the goat hair sticks out of the woven fabric, gets wet, drops and partially cover the holes in the flatweave, thus making tent almost waterproof. Later on, these nomadic people felt the need to isolate themselves from the humidity present in the earthen foolrs of their tents. They then applied the very same techniques of flatweave to the making of of floor coverings and called them "Kilims". Since this was the area of paganism, most flatweave designs reflected stylised depictions of the worshipped sembols.

Just as with a little girl's braided pony-tail where strants of the shorter and stiffer hair stick out, the goat hair sticks out of the woven fabric, gets wet, drops and partially cover the holes in the flatweave, thus making tent almost waterproof. Later on, these nomadic people felt the need to isolate themselves from the humidity present in the earthen foolrs of their tents. They then applied the very same techniques of flatweave to the making of of floor coverings and called them "Kilims". Since this was the area of paganism, most flatweave designs reflected stylised depictions of the worshipped sembols.

As we mentioned before, no one knows exactly when and where the first knotted-pile carpets were woven; however the oldest "surviving" pile carpets was descovered in the grave of a Sycthian price in the Pazyryk valley of the Altai mountains. In Siberia by Russian archeologist (Rudenko) in 1947 and is presently displayed in the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad. The carpet was woven with the Turkish double knot and contains a surprising 347.000 knots per suquare meter (255 per square inch); it is 3.62 square meters (6 x 6.5 feet) and has been carbon dated to have been from the 5th. century B.C. It was loaded and subsequently flooded and froze to a wait discovery by Rudenko. The Pazyryk, or Altai carpet, is rather sophisticated, thereby showing that it is the product of a long history and tradition of weaving.