Abstract

The soft limestone rock in the mediaeval town of Cherven has properties that facilitate the carving out of variously shaped negative features with different everyday uses. This paper deals with a particular type of carvings made in the rock surface, comprising a rectangular embedment whose long sides face a varying number of rectangular and round pits. These structures, or perhaps more properly termed ‘ features’, can be found in the residential neighbourhoods of the mediaeval town. The various studies conducted over the years and the latest findings have yielded a sufficient number of specimens to make a presentation. There exist a number of suppositions on their purpose, and the authors would like to add the hypothesis that those carvings were used as a structural component of a horizontal loom, in particular an embedded horizontal loom. The research compares different sources of information – archaeological artefacts, images and ethnographic similarities – to show the development of this type of device and its interpretation in this light. By locating and describing the Cherven specimens, the authors propose a simplified typology based on their form. At this stage, it is difficult to date them accurately. In most cases, the devices in question were part of the interior of buildings that have been demolished, with new buildings built in their place for other purposes. They were probably built at some point between the 13th and 15th centuries. Given that the outer city was mainly settled in the 14th century, it can be posited that it was precisely then when their numbers increased.