Long, flat pieces of wood, ivory, iron or other durable materials, typically carved to a short point at the top and sometimes equipped with an arrowhead-like tip, used to beat the weft and secure it into place. When the batten is passed behind the warp, the entire set of warp strands is separated and prepared to receive the woof. This device is commonly associated with warp-weighted looms, traditional upright looms, backstrap looms, and several bone weaving tools. Traditionally carved with illustrations of creation myths, divination, marriages, conquest, and royal descent, these devices have long been used by Indigenous peoples in the Americas who imbued them with diestic, ritual, and spiritual meanings. The devices have also been discovered in the cemetaries and other archaeological remains of the Anglo-Saxons, dating to the early Middle Ages.
