Ropes photos on Flickr

It is likely that the earliest "ropes" were naturally occurring lengths of plant fibre, such as vines, followed soon by the first attempts at twisting and braiding these strands together to form the first proper ropes in the modern sense of the word. The earliest evidence of suspected rope is a very small fragment of three-ply cord from a Neanderthal site dated 50,000 years ago.

This item was so small, it was only discovered and described with the help of a high power microscope. It is slightly thicker than the average thumb-nail, and would not stretch from edge-to-edge across a little finger-nail.

There are other ways fibres can twist in nature, without deliberate construction.

A tool dated between 35,000 and 40,000 years found in the Hohle Fels cave in south-western Germany has been identified as a means for making rope.

It is a 20 cm (8 in) strip of mammoth ivory with four holes drilled through it.

Each hole is lined with precisely cut spiral incisions.

The grooves on three of the holes spiral in a clockwise direction from each side of the strip.

The grooves on one hole spiral clockwise on one side, but counter-clockwise from the other side.

Plant fibres have been found on it that could have come from when they fed through the holes and the tool twisted, creating a single ply yarn. Fiber-making experiments with a replica found that the perforations served as effective guides for raw fibers, making it easier to make a strong, elastic rope than simply twisting fibers by hand spiral incisions would have tended to keep the fibres in place.

But the incisions cannot impart any twist to the fibres pulled through the holes.

Other 15,000-year-old objects with holes with spiral incisions, made from reindeer antler, found across Europe are thought to have been used to manipulate ropes, or perhaps some other purpose.

They were originally named "batons", and thought possibly to have been carried as badges of rank.

Impressions of cordage found on fired clay provide evidence of string and rope-making technology in Europe dating back 28,000 years.

Fossilized fragments of "probably two-ply laid rope of about 7 mm [0.28 in] diameter" were found in one of the caves at Lascaux, dating to approximately 15,000 BC.

The ancient Egyptians were probably the first civilization to develop special tools to make rope.

Egyptian rope dates back to 4000 to 3500 BC and was generally made of water reed fibres.

Other rope in antiquity was made from the fibres of date palms, flax, grass, papyrus, leather, or animal hair. The use of such ropes pulled by thousands of workers allowed the Egyptians to move the heavy stones required to build their monuments. Starting from approximately 2800 BC, rope made of hemp fibres was in use in China.

Rope and the craft of rope making spread throughout Asia, India, and Europe over the next several thousand years.

From the Middle Ages until the 18th century, in Europe ropes were constructed in ropewalks, very long buildings where strands the full length of the rope were spread out and then laid up or twisted together to form the rope.

The cable length was thus set by the length of the available rope walk. This is related to the unit of length termed cable length. This allowed for long ropes of up to 300 yards (270 m) long or longer to be made.

These long ropes were necessary in shipping as short ropes would require splicing to make them long enough to use for sheets and halyards.

The strongest form of splicing is the short splice, which doubles the cross-sectional area of the rope at the area of the splice, which would cause problems in running the line through pulleys.

Any splices narrow enough to maintain smooth running would be less able to support the required weight.

Rope intended for naval use would have a coloured yarn, known as the "rogue's yarn", included in the layup.

This enabled the source to be identified and to detect pilfering.

Leonardo da Vinci drew sketches of a concept for a ropemaking machine, but it was never built.

Remarkable feats of construction were accomplished using rope but without advanced technology:

In 1586, Domenico Fontana erected the 327 ton obelisk on Rome's Saint Peter's Square with a concerted effort of 900 men, 75 horses, and countless pulleys and meters of rope.

By the late 18th century several working machines had been built and patented.

Some rope is still made from natural fibres, such as coir and sisal, despite the dominance of synthetic fibres such as nylon and polypropylene, which have become increasingly popular since the 1950s.

Nylon was discovered in the late 1930s and was first introduced into fiber ropes during World War II.

Indeed, the first synthetic fiber ropes were small braided parachute cords and three-strand tow ropes for gliders, made of nylon during World War II.

LEARNING THE ROPES by Irene

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A detail of the Mutiny of the Bounty ship recently docked in Annapolis, Maryland

Ropes and boats by Clare Keegan

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