They were used as simple covering carpets and mattresses.
Translated from Arabic, julkhirs means “bear skin”, but the following names were also used: julvarak (Arab. jul – wool, woolen fabric, varak – layer, leaf, pati zulvarak (pati – chicken feathers, wool; zul – having, varak – layer; lit. having layers of wool, or a carpet made of multi-layered wool). V. G. Moshkova pointed out that some Uzbek weavers translated the term julkhirs as the “saddle cloth of a rich horseman” (jul – means “skin, cloth under the saddle”, and hirs means “rich man, master”). This technique was obviously used to produce covering carpets and horse covers.
Julkhirs carpets not only differ with their long pile, but also with their technology of production, which is considered to be among the most ancient, and demonstrates the transition from flat-woven weaving to pile, knotted weaving. V. G. Moshkova believed that Julkhirs were the most ancient type of pile carpets, which “casts a light not only upon one of the earliest stages of carpet weaving’s development in Uzbekistan, but also the history of pile carpet weaving in general”.
As mentioned above, the first long-pile carpets (filikli) were produced in Sumer. Analogous items include the long-pile carpets and clothes typical for Bactria and Margiana in the Bronze Age, thus proving the cultural and historical ties of BMAC with Sumer. Later, medieval julkhirs can be viewed as the result of the centuries-long evolution of this Sumer-Bactrian tradition. They feature a high pile, up to 25 mm, archaic production technology and monumental patterns.
The long-pile carpets of the Samarkand region are the most traditional among their many variants. They were woven on narrow-beam machines, and thus consisted of several, usually four, long panels sewn together. A more archaic version of julkhirs did not feature any border. Camel and sheep, as well as goat wool, which was more solid and coarse, was used for weaving.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "Carpet making of Uzbekistan: A tradition preserved through centuries" (Volume XIV) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
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