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The Kilim is a truly remarkable tradition maintained by women of Anatolia for hundreds of generations, dating back nine thousand years. Turkish mothers and daughters maintained this mysterious tradition for the last thousand years as Turkish tribes settled in Anatolia and intermingled with the local population.
The oldest record of kilims comes from Catal Hoyuk Neolithic pottery circa 7000 BC, the oldest settlement ever to have been discovered. It is located south east of Konya in the middle of the Anatolian region. The excavations to date (only 3% of the town) not only found carbonized fabric but also fragments of kilims painted on the walls of the houses. The majority of them represent geometric and stylized forms that are similar or identical to other historical to contemporary designs.
A kilim is a flat-woven rug (though because of the artful nature of the kilim, many are hung on the wall as show-pieces instead of being used as a floor-covering) made in several regions of the world, including Turkey, Persia, and the Caucasus. Making a kilim is a highly regarded folk art; kilims that are handmade with natural dye and wool are the cultural norm. There is also a great deal of symbolism in the patterns used in each design. Some kilims are even used as Muslim prayer rugs. Because of the cultural aspects of these rugs, each region has its own traditions revolving around colors, styles, and patterns. Because of the regional nature of the differences in style, it is easy to identify the type of kilim by aesthetics. This has led to a particular region in Turkey choosing to patent their own brand of kilim.
A kilim is a type of rug, but one that lays flat because there is no vertical weave, or "pile." The pile is the main characteristic of rugs or carpets that most people associate with typical rugs. Because it has no pile, oftentimes a kilim may have no correct up-Side or down-side and may be reversible.
Though each region has developed its own particular style of kilim, the Anatolian region of Turkey has staked claim on the original. One particular style of Anatolian kilim is the Afyon, which has been patented (TasteofTurkey.com). The full name of both the city and the province in Western Anatolia where this particular style of kilim originates is Afyonkarahisar (Kilim.com). Scraps of what may be the predecessors to modern day kilims were found in that particular region dating back to the 8th and 7th centuries B.C. (Kilim.com). These findings suggest that all modern kilims may have emerged from this region.
Afyon kilims are 100% wool, with all-natural dyes, and completely handmade (TasteofTurkey.com). These qualities are representative of the ideal kilim in any region, so there are also stylistic qualities that set the Afyon kilim apart from the crowd (Lonely Planet, Istanbul). The main colors used in an Afyon kilim are apricot, pink, blue, green and yellow. The patterns are large geometric shapes, similar on most Anatolian kilims, but with a signature fence or finger shape protruding from them, called parmakli, which loosely translates to “with fingers" (Kilim.com).
Regional differences between kilims outside of Turkey are easily determined by plain sight. The Turkish, Persian, and Kurdish varieties of kilim are quite similar, with sweeping geometric shapes including triangles and zig-zags. The Persian seems to have smaller designs as compared to the bold, larger images on the Turkish kilim.
If you will note the Azeri kilim on the left portrays animals, most likely camels, as they are seen. The Turkish kilim on the right also portrays animals, but in an entirely different manner, with shapes that only hint as to the subjects true appearance - a very abstract design. This is a style common to Islam because of the general rules against idolaters. If you notice the green border on the left, the shapes that line the edge are a depiction of scorpions, a common geometric shape on Turkish kilims.
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