Prehistoric Nettle Textiles, scraping and splicing

Recent research has demonstrated that many Neolithic and Early Bronze Age textiles used spliced, rather than spun, fibres. I'm using stinging nettle to demonstrate how splicing works, and will be weaving the results in a future video.

[boelwerkr]

I learned once to process preprocess the fibers of nettles from my grandmother. You have to break the stems open like you do and the put them in a small stream weight down with stones. Over a few days/week (depending on the weather) the softer flesh will rot away. The fibers then are rolled and washed, then dried, combed and spun. My grandmother made underwear from it after the last world war. She said that you can dry the stocks and then break them but the water method will produce a better yarn.

[bunba__]

I remember reading that nettle was widely used to make clothes way until the beginning of 1900 in Finland before cotton replaced it. Flax and wool was used to make everyday wear and nettle to make undergarment and Sunday wear for Church. Nettle was called the Silk of the North and European royals loved linen made from the finest nettle fibers. Nettle fibers are porous so it's warm but soft like Silk and it's naturally antimicrobial so perfect for undergarments and bed sheets. First evidence using nettle in Finland is from the iron age when people used it to make fishnets because it doesn't rot as easily as other natural fibers.

[TheWirksworthGunroom]

A great demonstration of a complex subject. This is exactly where YT excels as a platform, detailed educational content from true experts that would never get seen in traditional broadcast media.

[tawnia]

She showed a left handed example!! You have no idea how hard it is to comprehend right handed tutorials sometimes.

[arturogutierrezpulido]

the cat was the perfect ending. Thank you so much for the video. every once in a while i think about this and come back to watch it again

[kellieweaver]

This reminds me of a fairy tale I read as a kid called The Wild Swans where some princes are turned into swans, and their sister breaks the spell by making them shirts out of stinging nettles. The story makes a lot more sense now.

[joecaner]

Brilliant! The amount of sophistication, ingenuity and labor that went into the creation of early textiles was an impressive achievement.

[PsychicIsaacs]

When I was a child, I saw Maori women in New Zealand processing New Zealand Flax (Phorium tenax) fibres for cloak weaving. They used abalone or puppies shells to scrape the flax and also sharpened shells to cut sections in the outer coating (which curls when dried). This was how they make their “Piu piu“ skirts. Their cloaks are exquisite, are woven without a loom and the technology of how it is done has survived to this day, thanks to a small group of dedicated advocates.

[jacknshirley]

I live in North Carolina, And study primitive arts under Doug Meyer, and have recently passed a personal goal of 1000 feet of Processed refined cordage. Recently discovered a patch of wood nettles, went to this demonstration and came away with some amazing results.

[Sugi]

My grandma said her granny made them clothes from nettle during the war, thanks for showing me how it's done!

[squeeerle]

Fascinating! I put this on for my sewing fanatic 6 year old who is learning ancient history.

[lornacy]

This is why we have pets. They help us keep perspective😊
I grow nettles for eating and making tea ... Now I can use the stems for something other than compost! Close ups were helpful and well done!

[archibaldmaclaine]

The lowly Nettle is one of the greatest of plants. From food and drink to clothing it`s uses are so many and it is such a shame that so much has been forgotten and lost/discarded to "the convenience" of modern living. First of your videos I`ve seen (youtube actually showed up something of proper inters for once) I can assure you I will be watching a lot more.

[josephdonais]

Wild fiber extraction and cordage is what I was investigating at about 15 years old in Massachusetts and Virginia. at 18 I joined the army and all my interests in early knowlage and skill was put into a shoe box way back on the top shelf. At 58 now I'm watching this lovely siren put it in my face. Ty

[shannahenk]

You have taken my two passions - fiber arts and archaeology - and put them into a single YouTube channel. Thank you YouTube algorithms for suggesting these videos to me!!!

[ReltubTheWiz]

Oh my goodness, I Love you for doing this! I'm always finding worked flint in my garden. i have wanted to make a nettle bag for a long time. When doing some gardening I wanted to cut through a stalk without getting up and going to the shed to get my clippers. I picked up a flat stone with and edge and it cut through perfectly. When I looked at it I realised it was worked flint, even with a knob to hold my finger against. Definitely a scraping and cutting tool. Then I noticed more and more worked flint everywhere. I live on the North Downs in Surrey, literally a flint mine!

[jeanettereno]

I was always a curious child. History in schools never taught me the life skills of before. Knowledge is powerful. Thank you for your videos! I now have the tools to teach my grandkids "historical knowledge" and give them a guide towards open thinking. God bless!

[CamillaFreeman]

I’ve been making my first nettle cord today, I’ve really enjoyed it and my cats were fascinated. Despite the cats “help” I’m pleased with what I’ve made and am looking forward to watching more of these videos and trying more new things. Thank you Sally 😺

[hazeluzzell]

I’m so pleased to have seen this! I’ve seen Egyptian wall paintings of workers splicing flax end to end. I’ve never seen nettle prepared well enough to see it spliced end to end. Another question it could answer is why problems arise in identifying flax from nettle, because I’ve never seen nettle prepared so finely.(I know there are other ways of telling them apart!). I see now why Mary Queen of Scots preferred nettle fibre sheets for her bed...if the story is true!

[Gothmetalhead]

Nettle is extremely tough. I use it a lot in my bushcraft projects. Thankyou for this, it was interesting.
BTW, the cordage method you use is also known as the Flemish Twist, its used a lot for bowstrings.