Origins of Weaving and Hand Knotted Rugs
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The art of rug making reaches back into pre-history. Unfortunately very little is known about the earliest examples of hand knotted rugs. A small number of these have been preserved in museums and private collections, but the sadly the vast majority of older rugs have disappeared.  Excavations at the c. 7000 BC site of Catal Huyuk in Anatolia have revealed wall paintings of flat woven rugs, as well as blank spaces on the walls where woven materials would have been hung.  The earliest known representation of a loom appears on a terracotta cylinder seal from Sumer (modern Iraq), from the fourth millennium BC.

It is believed that the technique of hand knotting carpets was begun by the nomadic tribes of Central Asia. These knotted rugs were produced using the materials at hand, principally sheeps wool and natural dyes, and acted both utilitarian objects and a portable, durable store of wealth.  These tribes produced small rugs typically decorated with geometric motifs inspired by plant and animal forms. For the nomad, the rugs were both decorative and utilitarian, serving as floor covers, wall hangings, curtains and saddlebags.  Because these early carpet makers frequently moved to follow their flocks to new pastures, they often dismantled their simple portable looms several times during manufacture of a single carpet, and their creations may contain irregularities in weave and design.