When you’re shopping for the perfect area rug or binding a carpet remnant for your floor space, you’re probably not thinking about all of the people who came before you and have bought or repaired their own rugs, but people have been decorating rooms with carpets for thousands of years. You are in some excellent company.
How old is the world’s oldest rug?
The Pazyryk Rug is believed to be the oldest known pile rug in the world. It was excavated in Siberia in 1949 by Russian archaeologist Sergei Rudenko who unearthed the Pazyryk mounds, including the burial mound of a 4th or 5th-century Scythian prince. The permafrost environment of the Pazyryk Valley (which is located where the borders of modern Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China come together) kept the items in this tomb in remarkable shape for thousands of years.
Made of wool, and woven in the symmetrical double-knot, or Turkish knot, technique, the Pazyryk Rug is composed of more than 1,250,000 knots. The design depicts men on horseback and also dismounted. There is a border of griffins and a border of fallow deer, and the central field is filled with crosses containing lotus buds. It is a striking piece and reveals a great deal about the people who made it and rugmaking in the ancient period.
It’s unlikely that Scythians knotted it themselves, however. They were a nomadic people, at home on horseback and knowledgeable about the art of war. Both the Scythian men and women fought in battle and were known to be fearless, and the Pazyryk Valley is near to several trade routes that merchant caravans traveled in order to sell their wares. Due to the sophistication of the Pazyryk Rug’s construction, it’s much more likely that it was woven in a more settled, populated area with enough wealth to support various artists. Textile expert Ulrich Schurmann believes it originates in Armenia. How it got into the possession of these Scythians is anyone’s guess. It may have been bought or stolen or both.
If you want to see the Pazyryk Rug, you’ll have to journey to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg where it is now housed among many other of the world’s most fabulous works of art. If you do ever travel there to see it, remember that the ancient Scythian prince who owned it and treasured it enough to be buried with it enjoyed it for the same reason we like our own rugs: they make our rooms warmer and more comfortable and more beautiful to look at. Our rugs are unlikely to last 2400 years, but, again, no one expect the Pazyryk Rug to survive that long either. Anything is possible.
