WEAVING IN TIBET
An investigation into its origins
Rupert Smith

As you stand in the market place of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, or watch pilgrims walk around the main temple, you are struck by the incredible diversity of features in the people.
Nomads with huge herds of yaks and sheep have lived on the high pastures in the same way as farming communities in fertile valleys have existed for thousand of years. In Seven years in Tibet Heinrich Harrer1 mentions his friend Aufschnaiter unearthing pottery from graves many thousands of years old.

THE ORIGINS OF THE TIBETAN PEOPLE
Hsia Dynasty (2205 - 1766 B.C.) Chinese oracle bone inscriptions describe the Ch'iang using a combination of the characters for sheep and man. From this it can be assumed they were nomadic sheep herders. Ch'iang people are mentioned later in Chinese records as living in present day N.W. China and during classical antiquity on the eastern edge of the silk route.
In these early times ...

Presenting a collection of Tibetan rugs provides a rare opportunity to reflect upon the many peculiarities of the production of rugs in Tibet, which are so similar in their choice of decoration to those of other Oriental countries, and at the same time unique in many other respects, when compared with Far-Eastern weaving as a whole.
This apparent contradiction is evident to all those familiar with weaving and the use of rugs, and it makes it difficult to discuss Tibetan rugs in isolation, setting them aside from the production in neighbouring countries, and China above all. The same conclusion was reached in the past by Ian Bennett, who declared that "A study of Tibetan rugs in isolation from those woven in the countries around, especially in China proper and in what was Eastern Turkestan, seems a meaningless exercise "...

This may be an over-simplification, but it applies to tourists who come to Uzbekistan for only eight days. Peter Mauch, vice-president of the German Association of Oriental Carpet Experts and Appraisersa (BSOT) organised a study tour for members and affiliated guests. 18 participants left Frankfurt on 1st May, arriving early next morning in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, after a six hour flight.
The ancient Transoxiana, which is now Uzbekistan, covers about 450,000 square kilometres between the Amu-Darya River in the west and the Syr-Darya in the east, and provides a basis for agriculture only along the main rivers and their tributaries, as well as around a few oases. A system of modern, open canals and covered ones from ancient times (the so-called Khanate's) sometimes measuring 30 metres deep, provide irrigation. Cotton, the "white gold", is the main product. Of lesser importance are wheat, barley and millet. About 25 million people suffer from poor living standards, with many drifting to the cities. Uzbekistan has been independent since 1995. ...