The Origin And Turning Point Of Flocculent Material

“Flocculation” is the natural piling of fibers,also known as puffy substance or “flocculent material”,which also refers to the process of forming this puffy structure,often called puffing.Puffing is one of the oldest ways of forming textiles,along with weaving,knotting and spinning.Modern nonwovens are puffy materials added to artificial processing,and are fiber aggregates that most closely resemble natural puffy featureless.However,at the beginning of human society,what was "flocculent material" ? What was it used for? In other words,was it used as a tool by humans just like braiding,knots and ropes? This is a major branch that people neglected in the test of prehistoric civilization of textiles.In this paper,the structural characteristics of direct fiber-formed fabrics is summarized by generalizing the common knowledge of flocculent materials,the generic term of "flocculent materials" as direct fiber piles is proposed.The flocculent materials is defined as soft materials obtained directly from nature or made by artificial actions for the purpose of use and function.Then the flocculent materials is classified into three generations according to the complexity of flocculent materials and the complexity of their functions: original flocculent materials(first generation),fiber flocculent materials(second generation),and modern flocculent materials(third generation).Based on the turning point of the birth of original flocculent materials,the instrumental origin of flocculent materials is inferred,and with reference to the naming and division of old and new stone tools,the old and new flocculent materials are referred to as old and new flocculent toolsThe origin form,emergence period,development stage and division basis of flocculent materials were clarified by examining the relevant written records,physical evidence and flocculent materials production methods at home and abroad.Based on the indirect evidence such as documents,wall paintings and petroglyphs,combined with the measurement of the advantages and disadvantages of the old flocculent materials and the old weaving,knotting and spinning tools in terms of the difficulty of obtaining raw materials,as well as the complexity and wisdom of production,it is inferred that the old flocculent materials appeared at the same time as the other three types of old textile tools,that is,in the Paleolithic period around 1 million years ago,far earlier than the new flocculent materials that appeared more than 8,000 years ago.Thus,the following inferences are drawn: firstly,the functions and needs of the old wadding are secondary needs,i.e.safety needs,and the evolution of its structure and process was of little significance to humans at that time;secondly,before the change in human lifestyle,the function of the old flocculent materials was sufficient to meet the protection needs of humans,so there was no incentive for progress in the stability of its structure and innovation of its function.The new flocculent materials has the structural characteristics of the original flocculent materials,and is the descendant of the old one.And the new flocculent material is based on the structure of the original flocculent material through structural adjustment,or the addition of linkages to achieve its structural stability and continuity.And nonwovens continue the structural characteristics of the new flocculent material and the characteristics of process principles of the inter-fiber linkage,only with the difference that advances in processing technology have made the process of stabilizing the structure of the flocculent material more controllable for humans.Therefore,the consistency of the structural characteristics of the flocculent materials and the functional requirements of the subject,especially the consistency of the former "structure",makes it possible to conclude that nonwovens is just new flocculent materials,i.e.,the descendants of fibrous flocculent materials(third generation flocculent materials).Previously,the original flocculent materials(i.e.old flocculent tools)is the ancestor of nonwovens.The development of wadding has taken a long time from primitive wadding to modern nonwovens,mainly due to the non-necessity of human needs and the limitations of production technology.