Mechanism of Laoguanshan Pattern Looms from Late 2nd Century BCE, Chengdu, China

摘要

The development of technology is tightly interlinked to the introduction of the weaving loom, and in particular with the complex pattern loom. Probably, the most important testimony of this link is provided by the Chinese character ji with its various meanings including intelligence, human excellence, crossbow-trigger and weaving loom. Furthermore, the technological principles behind the pattern loom have been the key-inspiration behind very important breakthrough technological inventions throughout human history as e.g. the French Jacquard loom, telegram, then computers. However, the archaeological evidence has been missing. A new exceptional Han dynasty burial in Laoguanshan, Chengdu, southwest China in 2013, has revealed four models of wooden pattern looms dating back to 2nd century BCE, resulting in the first evidence of the use of pattern loom in the world. Hence, these finds provide the earliest existent archaeological material which is technological speaking the point of departure for our present highly technological world. We have reconstructed the finds in order to identify the exact technological principles behind these pattern looms. Our results reveal that there are two systems for the movement of warp and weft resulting in a highly complex multi-shaft patterning principle with two different power transmission systems.