'In this paper we present a culture-historical exposition of the recordings of knots. From this synopsis we extract a crude theory, which models the practical use of knots by Man. We apply this model to an example in order to demonstrate how data, which is derived from other empiric studies on knots can be combined to yield various new scientific interpretations of the phenomenon knot.'

Originally a lecture held for the Danida fellowship holders at Vejlby Landbrugskole during the Danida Weekend of ISC at Aarhus Universitet on September 25th 1993.