NOW: Omani Sand Socks زرابيل TRC 2018.2807a-b

Peru and Egypt have both excellent preservation characteristics and extensive excavation histories, so I often return to these locations for nalbound artifacts. However, for this week’s Nalbound Object of the Week, I’d like to explore an item that reflects a different tradition. While we don’t know much about archeological examples, the Arabian Peninsula has evidence of a very strong traditional usage of nalbinding. زرابيل zarbool,¹ or sand socks and camel muzzles² seem to be the predominant items made with nalbinding there. This particular pair of Omani Sand Socks, I had the pleasure of seeing while they were on display in the Socks & Stockings exhibition at the Textile Research Centre in Leiden, Netherlands in 2019.

Object: Sand socks زرابيل

Description: The socks are worked from the toe up in alternating stripes of white and black. The stripes are two rows deep and the color is carried from one row up to the next color change. The heel is a wedge heel. There is a slit in the ankle with ties at the top to close it. The bottom showing in this image shows the pads that are worked onto the sock starting from the mid-foot and sewn down on three sides. The socks are 12.6 inches long by 5.5 inches wide (32 cm long by 14 cm wide³).

Dated to: late 20th century CE⁴

Find location: Oman⁵

Material: goat hair⁶

Stitch(es) used: Mammen, F2 UOO/UUOO (Stitch determination based on examination by Anne Marie Decker on 28 October 2019)

Gauge: 8-9 stitches to the inch and 2-2.5 rows to the inch. 4 stitches per cm and 0.75-1 row per cm.⁷

Inventory number: TRC 2018.2807a-b

Current location: Textile Research Centre, Leiden

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://trc-leiden.nl/collection/?trc=&zoek=sock&cat=&subcat=&g=&s=24&f=0&id=32565

Some sources in which more information can be found:

If you scroll down, there is one of the few images of sand socks being worn at http://turathalarab.blogfa.com/post/405

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A post shared by Rachael MacIver (@rachael_maciver)

Photographs (if permissions allow):

Acknowledgements: My thanks to Diana Lankhof and Lies van de Wege for making it possible for me to visit the Socks & Stockings exhibition at TRC. My timing was soo very tight and they graciously arranged to open an hour early so that I could have time to examine the nalbound sand socks and see the displays.

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1. Also transliterated Zarbul ↩︎
2. The Arabic term for camel muzzles or mouth coverings is possibly transliterated as lisama or lasama according to this video brought to my attention by Susan Elizabeth Aiken: https://youtu.be/YcKxQ0sGpr4?si=G5uO28Y9AR1lD9RY Accessed 7 June 2024 ↩︎
3. https://trc-leiden.nl/collection/?trc=&zoek=sock&cat=&subcat=&g=&s=24&f=0&id=32565 Accessed 9 June 2024 ↩︎
4. https://trc-leiden.nl/collection/?trc=&zoek=sock&cat=&subcat=&g=&s=24&f=0&id=32565 Accessed 9 June 2024 ↩︎
5. https://trc-leiden.nl/collection/?trc=&zoek=sock&cat=&subcat=&g=&s=24&f=0&id=32565 Accessed 9 June 2024 ↩︎
6. https://trc-leiden.nl/collection/?trc=&zoek=sock&cat=&subcat=&g=&s=24&f=0&id=32565 Accessed 9 June 2024 ↩︎
7. Gauge determination based on examination by Anne Marie Decker on 28 October 2019 ↩︎