Soumak (technique)

The simplest form of weft wrapping technique in which weft elements repeatedly cross first over or under two or more warp ends, then back under or over half the number one or more, thus progressively encircling all warp ends one or more at a time. The technique is one of the oldest known, identified among charred 7th-century-BCE fragments excavated at Gordion, near Ankara in Anatolia. Widely associated with the flat woven rugs known as "soumaks," although the term has come to be associated with this basic weft wrapping technique wherever found.