Vintage Persian Ardabil Runner Riverdale: Season 4 Episode 17 Betty's Embellished Collar Sweater. Ardabil rugs come from the ancient city of Ardabil in northwestern Iran, a region that has been weaving rugs for over 2,000 years. The weavers here learned their craft during the long mountain winters when farming stopped. Weaving wasn't a cultural pastime, it was a livelihood, and that shows in how these rugs are built. What sets Ardabil apart is the character of the wool. The sheep graze the highlands surrounding Mount Sabalan, one of the highest peaks in Iran, where clean air, natural springs and rich pasture produce a wool that is harder to find anywhere else. The weavers bathe their sheep in the region's lakes and rivers, a practice that keeps the fleece exceptionally clean and results in a pile with a natural lustre that holds over decades of use. The designs are what make these rugs genuinely rare. Ardabil weavers have always woven from memory, which means the human figures, animals, birds and tribal symbols that appear across the field are not copied from a pattern. They are personal. A weaver might include a horse, a deer, a stylised figure, a bird mid flight, placed exactly where they felt it belonged. No two rugs interpret these motifs the same way. What looks like a repeating geometric field reveals itself slowly. The longer you look, the more you find. The palette is bold and saturated. As a vintage piece, those colours have already mellowed into themselves and the pile has settled. What you're looking at has been improving since it was made.