Cloth Weaving. Archaeological and historical evidence suggests that the domestic cultivation of cotton and cloth weaving evolved around the third or second millennium B.C.E. in the middle Nile region. By the beginning of the Common Era both cotton and ceramic technologies had also developed in the Western Sudanic and Atlantic areas of West Africa. These technologies were passed on through guild systems. Young apprentices learned not only the skills necessary to practice the craft but also the taboos associated with protecting them. As weaving became an art, various ethnic cultures developed distinctive styles. Historical and archaeological records suggest that cloth weaving began with the use of raffia, specially treated fibers made from the bark of a tree called the raffia palm. Raffia cloth was followed by woven strips of cotton and other fibers. Archaeological evidence dates the use of these...