Cord

	Technique
Number of elements	Looped	Twisted/Plied/Cabled	Braided/Plaited	Knotted
1	Lucet
2	Lucet	Z2S &S2Z (5th-7thc.) Z2S2Z Z2S2S (5th/6thc.) Z2S3Z S2Z3S
3		Z3S Z3S3Z Z3S2Z	3xZ3S 3xZ4S 3xZ5S
4		Z4S Z4S2Z	Fonaby 'Whipcord' (6thc) Skjoldehamn Hood (11thc.)	Crown Sinnet (identical)
5			'Guilloche' (6th & 10th c.) 2-ridge
6		Z6S	'Mucking' Z 'Wakeley' S Skjoldehamn Sleeve Edging (11thc.) Skjoldehamn Band (11thc.) Haddeby (8th-11thc.)
7		Z7S
8		Z8S
9			'Orsett' Z (7th-8thc.)


12			Skjoldehamn Belt (11thc.) Skjoldehamn Trouser Drawstring (11thc.)
More		Z&S16-20S2Z

Guilloche (5-element)
Several examples:
	10th	Durham	Coffin	silk edging on tablet-woven band	St. Cuthbert's textiles and vestments
		Wales		seam finishing
	early - mid 6th	Snape, Suffolk	Grave 19 (f)	hemp S-ply	protruding from end of copper-alloy small-long brooch
(fingerloop method)
1.	Tie off two loops to a fixed point. Using your fingers send one loop through the other. Drop the weft though the space between the loops. not through the middles of the loops. Repeat until you run out of loop.
(braiding method)
2.	Tie off 5 elements to a fixed point. Braid outer 2 elements over 2 into the middle, wrap 5th around inner 2 elements always going the same direction. Repeat.
(tablet-weave method)
3.	use 2 card-weaving cards, threaded in opposite directions with 2 strands each. Instead of passing the weft through the shed, it is wrapped around the inner pair

Haddeby (Hedeby, Haithabu) - 8th-11th c. - Viking
Part of an apron-dress discovered in the harbour, had a braided cord sewn over a dart.
6-element braid.
red, yellow, red, yellow, red, yellow. Braided right over 2; left under 2, over 1.

Orsett - late 7th - 8th c. - Saxon
A narrow band used to tie metal objects together inside a bag that was hidden under the body of 'a lady of some status', buried inside a ring-ditch.
(possible) 9-element braid
Braided left under 2, over 2; right under 2 over 2.

Skjoldehamn - 1050-1090CE - Norse/Sami
Bog body discovered in 1936, near the harbour of Skjold (Skjoldehamn), on the Norwegian island of Andøya.
Hood		Sleeve Edging
4-element braid. 2 pairs red and 2 pairs green thread arranged green, red, red, green. Braided - left under 2 reverse over 1; right under 2 reverse over 1.		6-element braid (pairs). Arranged red, green, yellow, yellow, green, red. Braided - left over 2, right over 3.
Belt		Trouser Drawstring
12-element braid (pairs of threads). Red. Braided - right over 3 under 2, left over 4 under 2.		12-element braid (each element 3 threads) Arranged yellow, red, yellow, yellow, red, yellow, yellow, red, yellow, yellow, red, yellow. Braided - right over 3 under 2, left over 3 under 3.
Band
6-element braid. Arranged yellow, yellow, red, red, yellow, yellow. Braided -

Fonaby 'Whipcord'
	early Saxon	Springfield Lyons, Chelmsford, Essex	Grave 4741 (f)	mineralised cord	S-ply (suspension cord for one/two perforated Roman coins)
	early Saxon - 6th	Fonaby, Lincolnshire	Grave 31 (f)		fragment 3cm long associated with cu/a annular brooch; thread slight z-spin used in threes; circumference 8mm. (looks to me, from the diagram, like a simple 4 element round braid)
	early Saxon - 6th	Snape, Suffolk	Grave 8 (f)	mineralised cord	S-ply; attached to another fabric (zz 2/2 twill) by thread

Z2S2Z
Castle-Dyke South - CS90 164, plant-fibre, beads worn as festoon between brooches, l 6th/7th, cu/a annular brooch
West Heslerton, Grave 177, 1mm diam., 5th/6th cu/a beads

Z2S2S
	5th/6th	West Heslerton, N. Yorks	Grave 28 (f)	mineralised cord	glass bead strung on cabled cord

Z2S (modern 2-ply yarn)
many examples:
	5th/6th	West Heslerton, N. Yorks	Grave 86 (f)	wool	fringe associated with copper-alloy annular brooch
			Grave 113 (f 20y)	flax/hemp cords	Cylinders stuffed w/ tabby & threaded on cord (copper-alloy bucket bead)
			Grave 147 (f)	wool	part of tablet-weave on copper-alloy annular brooch
			Grave 152 (f)	wool	Nine or ten parallel cords, one knotted. Seem to be binding chatelaine items together. (copper-alloy girdle-hanger and iron latch-lifter)
	6th	Uncleby (KellyThorpe), E. Yorks	Grave 29	very fine wool	small roll thread, madder, copper-alloy workbox
	mid 5th-mid 6th	Market Lavington, WIlts	Grave 4 (f)	linen, 1.5mm diam	Poss a fringe, on back of copper-alloy disc brooch at neck
	early - mid 7th	Sutton Hoo, Suffolk	Mound 17	flax/hemp cord	Binding iron & wood scabbard mouth. Very worn
	late 5th - 6th	Hollow Banks, Scorton, N. Yorks	Grave 30 (f)	flax/hemp cord 1.5mm	along cutting edge of iron knife
	6th	Hollow Banks, Scorton, N. Yorks	Grave 98 (f)	mineralised cord 0.8mm	One of five different repair cords on copper-alloy cruciform brooches, AD and AE, with detached knobs, AA and AC.
	early - mid 6th	Buckland, Dover, Kent	Grave 347 (j 14-16)	flax/hemp cord 0.6mm diam	Three cords around pin hinge on silver-gilt openwork disc brooch 440e at left shoulder. Probably bead-string for the 41 beads at the neck and upper chest.
	early - mid 7th	Buckland, Dover, Kent	Grave 413 (f 22-27y)	8 mineralised cords	Fringe underneath iron rods between thighs. Outside linen tabby of gown. Possibly the fringe on the end of a girdle or sash.
	7th	Castledyke South, Barton on Humber, Lincs.	SC90 126 (j m)	flax/hemp tablet-weave	braid on front edge of ?wrap-over jacket/coat (associated with iron buckle)

S2Z
West Heslerton - Grave 177, plant-fibre, 5th/6th, cu/a annular brooch

Z3S (modern 3-ply yarn)
West Heslerton - Grave 68, beads worn as festoon between brooches, 5th/6th, cu/a annular brooch
West Heslerton, Grave 141, 2mm diam., Beads between undergown & ?cloak, 1509 brooch annular cu/a AD 1510 strip fe AD 1511 bead amber AD, 5th/6th

Z&S16-20S2Z
Galley Hills, Banstead Down - Barrow burial, late 7th/8th, 8mm diam, String under rim, prob for tying cloth over cu/a bowl

Z4S (modern 4-ply yarn)
Westgarth Gardens - Grave 16, sm-lng brooch
West Heslerton - Grave 107, String of beads worn as festoon between brooches, cu/a annular brooch, 5th/6th

Definitions:

Modern Knitting Wool
Most modern knitting wool has already been plied (Z3S for example), so technically you are making cabled cord when you use these to demonstrate plying!
Plyed Cord
Plyed cord is where two or more elements are plied or twisted together. This cord can be described in letters and numbers. Thread is spun in a particular direction either Z (clockwise) or S (anti-clockwise). The first letter indicates the spin direction of the thread. The number then tells you how many elements, and the final letter is the plying direction. So Z2S is 2 Z-spun elements plied S.
Cabled Cord
Cabled cord is where two or more plied cords and further plied or twisted together. So Z4S2Z means ply 4 Z elements in the S direction twice, then ply these 2 cords together in the Z direction. (I'm assuming this is the right explanantion, because I haven't been able to verify it anywhere!)

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