Rashid's Blog: A Place for Inquisitive Souls

It is as yet difficult to point out where and when did the first carpet and the art of carpet making originated, the general areas demarcated where the carpets may have been first produced are the Persia (Iran), Turkmenistan, central Asia Mongolia and China referred as “Carpet belt”.

The origin can be traced back to the Neolithic age (7000 B.C.). Certain products of the era consisting of warp and weft were textile resembling flat weave kilims have been found. After that, the rugs were created by forming knots to make a pile. It is anticipated by the researchers that they may have originated in the dry steppe regions inhabited by the nomads.

The nomadic tribes of the region did carpet weaving. They instead of slaughtering their animals wove their wool into carpets. The carpets were spread on their tent floors or hung from the walls to provide protection against the creeping insects and dirt etc and insulated the tent to an extent against the cold. They were even used as seat covers or saddlebags or to sleep or to pray on. The rugs and carpets were woven with the patterns depicting flowers, animals and trees, their culture, tradition and religious beliefs.

One of the earliest carpets till date has been found in the tomb of a Scythian Prince in southern Siberia and it dates back to 5th century BC. This region is inhabited by the followers of Islam and so the carpets play an important role in Islamic culture as well as religion. From the thing of utility as floor, bed or coverings at the time of origin they have become a thing of exotic decoration and class.

Chinese and Tibetan rugs were of entirely different style and design. They featured the symbols of Buddhist and Taoist religions. In India the art of woolen carpets was there as early as 5th century BC but the more famous Persian carpet art cam with the Mogul Emperor Akbar. This art of carpet weaving was obtained from the Persian artists and modified to Indian Royal tastes.

The carpets were at one point so highly regarded and valued that they were considered better than money. According to a legend, The great Egyptian Queen Cleopatra actually presented herself to Caesar – rolled up inside a carpet. Marco Polo discovered some of the earliest fine Orientals in the 13th century whilst travelling in Persia. He can be given the credit of introducing the craft outside the carpet belt.

Different types of carpets that supposedly originated in this region are

Environmental monitoring, earth-resource mapping, and military systems require broad-area imaging at high resolutions. Many times the imagery must be acquired in inclement weather or during night as well as day. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) provides such a capability. SAR systems take advantage of the long-range propagation characteristics of radar signals and the complex information processing capability of modern digital electronics to provide high resolution imagery. Synthetic aperture radar complements photographic and other optical imaging capabilities because of the minimum constraints on time-of-day and atmospheric conditions and because of the unique responses of terrain and cultural targets to radar frequencies.

Synthetic aperture radar technology has provided terrain structural information to geologists for mineral exploration, oil spill boundaries on water to environmentalists, sea state and ice hazard maps to navigators, and reconnaissance and targeting information to military operations. There are many other applications or potential applications. Some of these, particularly civilian, have not yet been adequately explored because lower cost electronics are just beginning to make SAR technology economical for smaller scale uses.

Rocks are classified by mineral and chemical composition, by the texture of the constituent particles and by the processes that formed them. These indicators separate rocks into igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. They may also be classified according to particle size, in the case of conglomerates and breccias or in the case of individual stones. The transformation of one rock type to another is described by the geological model called the rock cycle.

Igneous rocks are formed when molten magma cools and are divided into two main categories: plutonic rock and volcanic. Plutonic or intrusive rocks result when magma cools and crystallizes slowly within the Earth’s crust (example granite), while volcanic or extrusive rocks result from magma reaching the surface either as lava or fragmental ejecta (examples pumice and basalt) .

Sedimentary rocks are formed by deposition of either clastic sediments, organic matter, or chemical precipitates (evaporites), followed by compaction of the particulate matter and cementation during diagenesis. Sedimentary rocks form at or near the Earth’s surface. Mud rocks comprise 65% (mudstone, shale and siltstone); sandstones 20 to 25% and carbonate rocks 10 to 15% (limestone and dolostone).

Metamorphic rocks are formed by subjecting any rock type (including previously-formed metamorphic rock) to different temperature and pressure conditions than those in which the original rock was formed. These temperatures and pressures are always higher than those at the Earth’s surface and must be sufficiently high so as to change the original minerals into other mineral types or else into other forms of the same minerals (e.g. by recrystallisation).There are also Foliated and nonfoliated rock types.

The three classes of rocks: the igneous, the sedimentary and the metamorphic — are subdivided into many groups. There are, however, no hard and fast boundaries between allied rocks. By increase or diminution in the proportions of their constituent minerals they pass by every gradation into one another, the distinctive structures also of one kind of rock may often be traced gradually merging into those of another. Hence the definitions adopted in establishing rock nomenclature merely correspond to selected points (more or less arbitrary) in a continuously graduated series. This is frequently urged as a reason for reducing rock classification to its simplest possible terms, and using only a few generalized rock designations. But it is clear that many apparently trivial differences tend regularly to recur, and have a real significance, and so long as any variation can be shown to be of this nature it deserves recognition.

Coloration

Iron oxides and carbonates play a large part in many sedimentary rocks and are especially important as coloring agents. The red sands and limestones, for example, which are so abundant, contain small amounts of iron(III) oxide (hematite), which in a finely divided state gives a red hue to all rocks in which it is present. Limonite and goethite, on the other hand, makes rocks yellow or brown; manganese oxides, asphalt and other carbonaceous substances are the cause of the black color of many sediments. Bluish tints result sometimes from the presence of phosphates or of fluorite; while green is most frequently seen in rocks which contain glauconite or chlorite.

Impact on society

Rocks have had a huge impact on the cultural and technological advancement of the human race. Rocks have been used by Homo sapiens and other hominids for millions of years. Lithic technology marks some of the oldest and continuously used technologies. The mining of rocks for their metal ore content has been one of the most important factors of human advancement. Humanity’s advancement has been decided by the kind of metals available from the rocks of a region. The prehistory of civilization is classified into the stone age, Iron Age, and Bronze Age. Rocks have been and continue to be used to construct buildings and infrastructure. When so used, they are dimension stone.Rocks often greatly affect topography such as limestone topography which exerts a huge impact on our society.