Warp-Weighted Loom

The warp-weighted loom is a simple, ancient form of loom in which the warp threads hang down freely from a horizontal bar at the top, itself supported on upright poles typically set at a slant against a wall rather than standing fully upright. The warp threads are gathered into bundles and each bundle is tensioned by a weight hung from its lower end, rather than being wound tight around a second beam the way a horizontal loom does it. Evidence of this loom type reaches back to the Neolithic period in central Europe, with depictions from Bronze Age Greece, and it remained in ordinary use across much of Europe for centuries, particularly in Scandinavia, where some communities kept weaving on warp-weighted looms into modern times; it survives today as living cultural heritage among some Sami communities and is kept alive elsewhere through hobby weaving and historical reenactment.