The earliest researchers into the Turkmen's and their weaving culture started from the assumption that the Turkmen had always been nomads and therefore the historical roots of their weaving were to he found in nomadic traditions. That the art of knotting grew out of the practical necessities of a nomadic way of life appears to he a convincing hypothesis. Mobility was an important requirement of this lifestyle and all the nomad's personal property had to he, as far as possible. Light, easily transportable and made from readily available raw materials, the most important of which was the wool from their own flocks of sheep. Piled carpets provided protection from the cold underfoot - in these climates, freezing temperatures seep up from the ground at night - and could also he used as covers and blankets.
However, the general opinion today is that although nomads unquestionably played an important part in the development of pile weaving, they may not actually have invented it. In the nomadic environment, it was easier to make felts and fiat-weaves. Felting, indeed, is probably among the oldest of textile techniques. No loom is needed and items can he made in a comparatively short time. By contrast, the production of a knotted carpet can take several months, and thus it is hardly a technique suitable for a nomadic way of life. Whenever carpets are depicted in early art, whether Eastern or Western, they are associated with power and wealth, both religious and secular. From such evidence, it would seem that for a long time pile weavings were the preserve of the upper echelons of the societies, which made or imported them. It is therefore more likely that they were produced by settled communities rather than by semi-nomadic ones. The manufacture of rugs by knotting woolen threads on to a net-like ground structure was probably derived from flat-weave techniques. The development from a continuous flat-weave such as sumak, through such loose pileping as the loop-pile technique to the final refinement of 'knotting' seems logical. It was not only geography and climate, which forced many of the inhabitants of Central Asia into a nomadic way of life. There was also the constant plundering and pillaging which went on between neighboring groups, the fight for good grazing lands at different times of the year, the struggle to secure access to water supplies and the constant internecine battles between the Turkmen's themselves. The origins and development of equestrianism among the steppe nomads, starting with the Scythians around 700 B.C., are also of considerable importance when discussing the history of this region.
The Turkmen's were divided into tribes, the number of which it is now hard to estimate; the tribes themselves were further sub-divided into various kinship groups and individual families, much like the large tribal confederations in Iran, many of which are also wholly or in part of Turkic origin. The Turkmen family lived in a distinctive tent, called a yurt, which could be erected and dismantled within a few hours. The base of a yurt was a lattice-like construction made of willow with a domed roof and covered in felt.
Horses were the key to a tribe's power, and served as their major status symbol. The principal source of its wealth was its sheep which provided wool, milk and, on festive occasions, meat. The task of hooking after the flocks, as well as weaving, fell to women. Other raw materials for weaving, although to a much lesser extent, were obtained from camels and goats.