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Summary | Raw materials | Items of material culture | Other tasks | Arrows | String | Survival in a prehistoric context

3.5. String

The numerous items using string (71.5%) illustrate how important string was. The time spent on string manufacture was the most time-consuming of women's manufacturing tasks (Plates 76-101 illustrate parts of the manufacturing process and some of the many ways in which string was used [all from Sillitoe 1988]) . 'Soft' organic material (rattan, bark fibre, bamboo etc.) constitutes the majority of the raw materials used; almost all items made had a 'soft' raw material as a component part. 'Soft' raw materials survive only rarely in prehistoric archaeological contexts.

Query database for items made from: String

Plate 76a 76a Plate 76b 76b Plate 76c 76c Plate 76d 76d
Stripping bark off saplings for making string (76a), Separating bast fibre from bark for making string (76b), Twisting the kuwmiy strands of string (76c), Twisting the kuwmiy strands of strong - close-up (76d)

Plate 77 77
A woman called Ponpin netting a man's apron, together with her small son

Plate 78a 78a Plate 78b 78b Plate 78c 78c Plate 78d 78d
Examples of the use of string: Netting the crown of a fancy net-cap (78a), The pondijp netting stitch on a fancy net-cap (78b), The shuwmat netting stitch on a fancy net-cap (78c), Netting wesaembow kaeray circuits on a fancy net-cap (78d)

Plate 79a 79a Plate 79b 79b Plate 79c 79c Plate 79d 79d
Examples of the use of string: The lay of a twisted pig tether (79a), The doinj plait of a pig tether (79b), Plaiting a wood insert pig tether (79c), Stretching and rubbing a pig tether (79d)

Plate 80a 80a Plate 80b 80b Plate 80c 80c
Examples of the use of string: Stringing a mouth bow (80a), Cutting off a piece of cane bamboo stem for a tube of a pan-pipe (80b), The binding around the tubes of a pan-pipe (80c)

Plate 81a 81a Plate 81b 81b Plate 81c 81c Plate 81d 81d
Examples of the use of string: Poking folded pieces of screw-pine leaf under the binding around the grass stem core of a cylindrical pendant (81a), Winding string around the end of a cylindrical pendant (81b), The binding around the centre of a cylindrical pendant (81c), Pushing she-oak twigs into the end of a cylindrical pendant (81d)

Plate 82a 82a Plate 82b 82b Plate 82c 82c Plate 82d 82d
Examples of the use of string: The securing of a twisted fern fibre loop for an elbow bangle (82a), Folding a length of cane bamboo into a stay for an elbow bangle (82b), Arranging the loops in a cascade for an elbow bangle (82c), Fitting a completed elbow bangle on wearer's arm (82d)

Plate 83a 83a Plate 83b 83b Plate 83c 83c
Examples of the use of string: Attaching cowrie shells to a side-mounted necklace (83a), Securing cowrie shells to a side-mounted necklace (83b), The tobok liy binding around the base of cowrie shells on a side-mounted necklace (83c)

Plate 84a 84a Plate 84b 84b Plate 84c 84c Plate 84d 84d Plate 84e 84e
Examples of the use of string: Starting to sew shells from an old nassa shell forehead band onto a new bark-cloth foundation (84a), The front of a nassa shell forehead band showing stitching of shells (84b), The rear of the bark-cloth foundation of a nassa shell forehead band showing detail of a stitch (84c), Sewing shells onto a nassa shell forehead band (84d), The securing of the string head-ties to the bark-cloth foundation of a nassa shell forehead band (84e)

Plate 85a 85a Plate 85b 85b Plate 85c 85c Plate 85d 85d Plate 85e 85e
Examples of the use of string: The dezbilay stitch use in coiling a pompom (85a),Coiling and stitching a pompom (85b), Securing feathers to a standing line for a feather circlet (85c), The turn taken around the quill of feathers being secured to a standing line for a feather circlet (85d), The turn taken around the standing line when fastening feathers to it for a feather circlet (85e)

Plate 86a 86a Plate 86b 86b Plate 86c 86c Plate 86d 86d Plate 86e 86e
Examples of the use of string: Stuffing a Princess Stephanie's bird of paradise skin with moss (86a), Sewing up a bird skin after stuffing it (86b), Tying cassowary feathers onto a standing line (86c), The half-hitch around the quills of a bunch of cassowary feathers to secure them to a standing line (86d), The half-hitch around the standing line to fasten a bundle of attached cassowary feathers (86e)

An idea of the time-consuming nature of string making can be gauged from the following description.

"She strips the bark off the saplings she collects and peels the cambium fibre...away from the outer bark or shongol (lit. skin) which she discards. She allows the bark to dry first before stripping off its fibre, slitting the wands gathered lengthwise in two and placing them indoors over a fire, leaving them for about a week. But the fibre of ponjip figs, she may strip off green and dry separately; women often excoriate these saplings during collection, returning home with bags of unseparated bark..., and there peeling off and drying the bast. On average, 5g of dry phloem fibre will produce 10 metres of string.
A woman shreds the dry fibre into thin strands called ya diyr to make string, and twists these into threads or kuwmiy by rolling a few pieces at a time between her thigh and palm away from her body. She produces continuous lengths of kuwimy by twisting these fibre strands one to another. String consists of two such kuwimy threads rolled together between thigh and palm to give a two-stranded twine called kobel. A woman rolls it in two movements, pushing her hand down her thigh to twist the two strands together and then pulling it back up again to firm their lay. She twists the kuwimy threads and kobel twine simultaneously, adding ya diyr strands to the former and rolling them until c. 20cm long, and then entwining them together into string, proceeding until she has a sizeable hank."
(Sillitoe 1988, 245).

The time for making enough string for an apron totals 12 hours, 43 minutes and 45 seconds. (The apron takes another 60 hours, 51 minutes 45 seconds to weave.)

MacKenzie (1991) gives a very detailed description of string making that includes the heating process for isolating the bast fibres, the methods of drying the fibres, the moistening of the fibres before twisting as well as the actual spinning process itself. Her time estimates differ slightly to those described above though this may be related to the amount of string being prepared, with up to 14 hours over a period of two weeks required for separation, and preparation of the fibres, then around 60 hours worth of spinning to produce enough string to make an average sized bilum.

These accounts serve to illustrate the time-consuming nature of string making. While making string will have varied according to the raw materials used in different environmental zones, all string making using natural resources requires a lengthy preparation time even before spinning takes place. String making will have been a time-consuming occupation for any society that employed string to manufacture items of material culture or clothing. Though Sillitoe only found women string makers, MacKenzie met one male string maker while Hampton comments that both men and women rolled the fibres to twist them into string (Sillitoe 1988; MacKenzie 1991; Hampton 1999).

Plate 87a 87a Plate 87b 87b Plate 87c 87c
Examples of the use of string: Trimming the sedge of a skirt to size (87a), Making the string front of a fancy skirt (87b), The serial whipping along the top edge of the string front of a fancy skirt (87c)

Plate 88a 88a Plate 88b 88b Plate 88c 88c Plate 88d 88d
Examples of the use of string: Flattening sedge stems for a skirt (88a), Whipping a bundle of sedge onto a skirt (88b), Whipping stout bundles of sedge onto the rear of a skirt (88c), A half-hitch securing the whipping around a bundle of sedge on the rear of a skirt (88d)

Plate 89a 89a Plate 89b 89b Plate 89c 89c
Examples of the use of string: The first shuwmat purl row of a knitted wristband (89a), Completing the final row of a knitted wristband (89b), Sewing cowrie shells on to a knitted wristband (89c)

Plate 90a 90a Plate 90b 90b Plate 90c 90c
Examples of the use of string: Dyeing string with wad of purple coleus leaves (90a), Splitting up a screw-pine leaf for netting spacers (90b), The standard nuw bay netting stitch (90c)

Plate 91a 91a Plate 91b 91b Plate 91c 91c
Examples of the use of string: An apron prior to the removal of the siris strand opening it up (91a), An apron prior to sewing the tib liy seam (91b), Netting the final tib liy seam of an apron (91c)

Plate 92a 92a Plate 92b 92b Plate 92c 92c Plate 92d 92d
Examples of the use of string: A man's knotted-strap bag prior to sewing up of seams (92a), Netting the strap of a man's wide-strap bag (92b), The tib liy seam netting stitch (92c), The start of a wesaembow kaeray circuit around two standard netted rows (92d)

Plate 93a 93a Plate 93b 93b
Examples of the use of string: Netting the final circuit on a fancy net-cap (93a), Beating a sleeve of bark fibre for a bark-cloth hat (93b)

Plate 94a 94a Plate 94b 94b Plate 94c 94c Plate 94d 94d
Examples of the use of string: Giving the finishing touches to an oval wig (94a), Covering a tree stump with netting in preparation for building a wig on it (94b), Trussing together hair for a crescent wig (94c), Prodding a crescent wig into final shape (94d)

Plate 95a 95a Plate 95b 95b Plate 95c 95c Plate 95d 95d Plate 95e 95e
Examples of the use of string: The construction of the kwiysh mor crown support for a wig or headdress (95a), Positioning kwiysh mor crown support on the head before building a burr wig (95b), Building up the burr foundation of a burr wig (95c), Tying the kwiysh mor crown support on a burr wig foundation (95d), Pushing hair onto the burr foundation of a burr wig (95e)

Plate 96a 96a Plate 96b 96b Plate 96c 96c Plate 96d 96d Plate 96e 96e Plate 96f 96f
Examples of the use of string: Winding a bark fibre around the end of a shaft prior to binding on the tines of a pronged arrow (96a), Starting to bind the tines onto a pronged arrow (96b), The mor binding on a pronged arrow (96c-e), Whipping around the tines and shaft of a pronged arrow (96f)

Plate 97a 97a Plate 97b 97b
Examples of the use of string: Lashing a sapling into a hoop for a fishing net (97a), Attaching a net bag to a sapling hoop for a fishing net (97b)

Plate 98a 98a Plate 98b 98b Plate 98c 98c Plate 98d 98d
Examples of the use of string: Starting the frame of a hunger restrainer with two cross members (98a), Adding two end pieces to the frame of a hunger restrainer (98b), Binding up the pad of a hunger restrainer (98c), Completing the binding around a hunger restrainer (98d)

Plate 99a 99a Plate 99b 99b Plate 99c 99c
Examples of the use of string: Whipping sedge onto the front of a fancy skirt (99a), Threading beads and seeds on the side of a fancy skirt (99b), Smearing pig grease on a fancy skirt (99c)

Plate 100a 100a Plate 100b 100b Plate 100c 100c
Examples of the use of string: Stitching screw-pine leaves onto a rain cape (100a), Sewing along the edge of a rain cape (100b), Sewing the centre seam of a rain cape (100c)

Plate 101a 101a Plate 101b 101b Plate 101c 101c Plate 101d 101d
Examples of the use of string: Removing a strip of bark from a sapling for a bast girdle-strap (101a), Whipping the securing toggle onto the end of a bast girdle-strap (101b), Making a string girdle strap (101c), The paelonk braid pattern (101d)

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Last updated: Wed Oct 8 2003