Factsheet S46: Lime bast cordage.

Manufacture of lime bast cordage (string and rope made from the bark of lime trees, Tilia spp) has been an unbroken tradition from the Mesolithic (9000-3000 BC) to the present day.
The cordage was usually manufactured by stripping off the bark in midsummer, submerging it in water to dissociate the adjacent bast layers, then peeling off the outer bark and separating the bast (inner bark) layers in narrow bands; these were then spun to make cords, which in turn were twisted to make cordage.