These early carpets were primarily used to make sitting on the ground more comfortable. The oldest known carpet is the Pazyryk carpet dated back to 5th century B.C. It was pulled from the tomb of a Scythian Prince in the Pazyryk Valley of Siberia by Russian archaeologist Sergei Rudenko in the late 1940's.
When did they start putting carpet in houses?
Carpet appeared in the early 19th century but really took off during the post-war, suburban building boom. Americans constructed bigger homes—hello McMansions—and filled them with carpet, which was affordable thanks to factory automation. “W2W carpet” became a coveted bullet point in real estate listings.
How long have carpets been around?
Experts believe it is over 6,000 years old, dating back to the 5th century B.C. Preserved in ice for thousands of years, the Pazyryk carpet features rich colors in a dense pile of symmetrical double knots. In the United States, the earliest carpets were large rugs made of woven wool.
