An Early Date for the Origin of Felt

Abstract

The origin of felt is unknown. It is in all probability the earliest form of textile making. Like most textiles, it has a low survival rate in archaeological conditions, so that specimens from the earlier millennia rarely come to light. The earliest documentation on it comes from China, c. 2300 B.C. but it is from the Central Asian Steppes that archaeologists have so far found the earliest examples of it. It has been produced there ever since. Sir Aurel Stein made numerous interesting discoveries of felt on his many journeys in Asia.Through T'ang writers we first hear of felt in Tibet and that the Chinese were familiar with the famous felt industry of Persia. Herodotus gives accounts of its frequent use amongst the Persians and associated tribes. Strabo, for example, describes the felt caps of the Persians as “high turbans of felt” which protected them from the cold winters of Media. The Medes themselves can still be seen in the fifth century B.C. portrayed in their rounded felt caps in the reliefs of the Achaemenian palaces of Persepolis. (Pl. XlXa)