Tradition of Weaving in Anatolian Nomadic Life

Abstract

Human communities who maintain their life by means of emigrating from some place to some place according to seasons and adopt this mobility such as lifestylehave lived in Anatolian geography for many years. These communities who meet all phasesneeded by the life through culture based on the emigration are named as “Yoruk”. Yoruk word is defined “as a person who continuously lives in a tent as migrant settler and lives off small cattle” in the resources.

A part of people maintains their life in this way in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains of Anatolia, especially in the interior zones of Western Anatolia and in highlands found in Mut, Silifke and Anamur zones of Mediterranean Region. The local people are separated from each other by a variety of groups and people adopting a sedentary life establish the villages under these names.

While Yoruks maintain their distinctive lifestyle even in a limited way, they make use of tools, equipment and items with certain characteristics in everyday life. These items consist of woven products that are enable Yoruks being on the move continuously to emigrate. Woven productsdesigned to facilitate a life being on the moveare produced in various ways in terms of their usage characteristics.At the same time, when considered that a life is maintained depending on sheep and goat farming in these communities, weaving production becomes an unavoidable fact in terms of the evaluation of the wool. In regions where Yoruk culture is maintained, woven products determined in the planned research with the purpose of promotion and analyzing of woven items produced and used in accordance with such a lifestyle are examined by means of taking their various features into consideration and their importance in terms of Anatolia woven culture especially emphasizes. This research is of a great importance in term of recognition of these woven products.