Historically, the first floor coverings were probably animal skins and the earliest floor coverings of textile construction were probably crudely woven textiles made from rushes or grasses. Inevitably, the desire arose to produce floor coverings with a pile of sheep or goat wool to simulate the warmth and comfort of animal skins. Inevitably, no traces of these floor coverings remain.The oldest known existing carpet is now to be found in the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, having been excavated from a tomb in Southern
Siberia and is 2400 years old. It is a pile rug of fine construction with about 3600 tufts/dm2.