Shag Area Rugs
Shag area rugs were made possible by the innate conservatism of Western and Central Asian tribal cultures and, most importantly, by their nomadic, or semi-nomadic, way of life. And people have thus been able to maintain and develop their own special culture of shag area rugs making. However, the general opinion today is that although nomads unquestionably played an important part in the development of shag area rugs weaving, they may not actually have invented it.
In the nomadic environment, it was easier to make felts and shag area rugs fiat-weaves. Felting, indeed, is probably among the oldest of shag area rugs textile techniques.
No loom is needed and items can weaver made in a comparatively short time. By contrast, the production of shag area rugs can take several months, and thus it is hardly a technique suitable for a nomadic way of life. There was also the constant plundering and pillaging which went on between neighboring groups, the fight for good grazing lands at different times of the year, the struggle to secure access to water supplies and the constant internecine battles between the people.
But traditions of shag area rugs making were saved.