Prehistoric Textile Fabrics Of The United States Part 2

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figs. 89 and 90.--Fabrics from the Lake Dwellings, Switzerland.]

THIRD GROUP.

A third form of fabric is distinguished from the last by marked peculiarities in the combinations of the threads. The threads of the warp are arranged in pairs as in the last form described, but are twisted in such a way as to inclose two of the opposing series instead of one, each succeeding pair of warp threads taking up alternate pairs of the woof threads, as shown in the section, Fig. 91. This is a very interesting variety, and apparently one that would possess coherence and elasticity of a very high order.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 91.--Section.]

In Fig. 92 a simple scheme of plaiting or weaving this material is suggested. It will be seen to differ from the last chiefly in the way in which the woof is taken up by the warp.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 92.--Theoretical device for weaving third group.]

The ancient pottery of the Mississippi Valley furnishes many examples of this fabric. It is made of twisted cords and threads of sizes similar to those of the other work described, varying from the weight of ordinary spool cotton to that of heavy twine. The mesh is generally quite open.

In Fig. 93 we have a very well preserved example from Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee. It was obtained from a large fragment of coa.r.s.e pottery.

Other pieces are nearly twice as coa.r.s.e, while some are much finer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 93.--From the ancient pottery of Tennessee.]

Figs. 94 and 95 are finer specimens from the same locality.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 94. Fig. 95.

From the ancient pottery of Tennessee.]

We have also good examples from Saline River, Illinois. They are obtained from fragments of the gigantic salt vessels so plentiful in that locality.

The upper figure of Plate x.x.xIX ill.u.s.trates one of these specimens.

Other examples hare been obtained from Roane County, Tennessee.

A piece of charred cloth from a mound in Butler County, Ohio, has been woven in this manner. Foster has described examples of the two preceding forms from the same locality. The material used is a vegetable fiber obtained from the bark of trees or from some fibrous weed. This specimen is now in the National Museum.

An interesting variety of this form is given in Fig. 96. It is from a small piece of pottery exhumed from a mound on Fain's Island, Jefferson County, Tennessee. The threads of the woof are quite close together, those of the web far apart.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 96.--From ancient pottery, Tennessee.]

A very fine example of this variety of fabric was obtained by Dr. Tarrow from an ancient cemetery near Dos Pueblos, Cal. It is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 2, Plate XIV, vol. VII, of Surveys West of the 100th Meridian.[4]

In describing it, Professor Putnam says that the fiber is probably obtained from a species of _yucca_. He says that "the woof is made of two strands, crossing the warp in such a manner that the strands alternate in pa.s.sing, over and under it, and at the same time inclosing two alternate strands, of the latter, making a letter X figure of the warp, united at the center of the X by the double strands of the woof."

It should be noticed that the series of cords called the woof by Professor Putnam are designated as warp in my own descriptions. The ill.u.s.tration shows a fabric identical with that given in the upper figure of Plate x.x.xIX, and the description quoted describes perfectly the type of fabric under consideration.

[Footnote 4: Putnam, F. W., in Vol. VII of Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, page 244.]

This method of weaving is still practiced by some of the western tribes, as may be seen by a visit to the national collection.

A somewhat complicated arrangement of the threads may be seen in the fabric shown in Fig. 97. It is clearly only a variation of the combination just described. The manner in which the threads pa.s.s over, under, and across each other can be more easily understood by reference to the figure than by any description. It comes from one of the Northwest coast tribes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 97.--Modern fabric, Northwest coast.]

FOURTH GROUP.

A fourth form of fabric, ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 98, is of very rare occurrence on our fictile remains.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 98.--Diagonal fabric, ancient pottery of Tennessee.]

It is a very neatly woven diagonal from the ancient pottery of Polk County, Tennessee. Two series of cords have been interwoven at right angles to each other, but so arranged as to produce a diagonal pattern.

One series of the cords is fine and well twisted, the other coa.r.s.er and very slightly twisted.

The remarkable sample of matting shown in Fig. 99 is from a small piece of pottery from Alabama. It has been worked in the diagonal style, but is somewhat different from the last example. It has probably been made of rushes or heavy blades of gra.s.s.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 99.--From the ancient pottery of Alabama.]

The texture shown in Fig. 100 is from a rather indistinct impression upon a small fragment of pottery from Iowa. One series of the strands seems to have been quite rigid, while the other has been pliable, and appear in the impression only where they have crossed the rigid series.

The dotted lines indicate their probable course on the under side of the cross threads.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 100.--From ancient pottery, Iowa.]

This form of fabric is very common in modern work.

FIFTH GROUP.

In Fig. 101 I present a variety of ancient fabric which has not to my knowledge been found upon ceramic products. This specimen shows the method of plaiting sandals practiced by the ancient inhabitants of Kentucky. Numbers of these very interesting relics have been obtained from the great caves of that State. They are beautifully woven, and well shaped to the foot.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 101.--Plaiting of a sandal, Kentucky cave.]

The fiber has the appearance of bast and is plaited in untwisted strands, after the manner shown in the ill.u.s.tration. Professor Putman describes a number of cast-off sandals from Salt Cave, Kentucky, as "neatly made of finely braided and twisted leaves of rushes."[5]

[Footnote 5: Putnam, F. W. Eighth Annual Report of the Peabody Museum, p. 49.]

Fig. 102 ill.u.s.trates a somewhat similar method of plaiting practiced by the Lake Dwellers of Switzerland, from one of Keller's figures.[6]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 102.--Braiding done by the Lake-Dwellers.]

[Footnote 6: Keller, Dr. F. Lake Dwellers. Fig. 3; Pl. Cx.x.xVI.]

SIXTH GROUP.

The art of making nets of spun and twisted cords seems to have been practiced by many of the ancient peoples of America. Beautiful examples have been found in the _huacas_ of the Incas and in the tombs of the Aztecs. They were used by the prehistoric tribes of California and the ancient inhabitants of Alaska. Nets were in use by the Indians of Florida and Virginia at the time of the discovery, and the ancient pottery of the Atlantic States has preserved impressions of a number of varieties. It is possible that some of these impressions may be from European nets, but we have plentiful historical proof that nets of hemp were in use by the natives, and as all of this pottery is very old it is probable that the impressions upon the fragments are from nets of native manufacture.

Wyman states that nets or net impressions have not been found among the antiquities of Tennessee. I have found, however, that the pottery of Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland furnish examples of netting in great numbers. In many cases the meshes have been distorted by stretching and overlapping so that the fabric cannot be examined in detail; in other cases the impressions have been so deep that casts cannot be taken, and in a majority of cases the fragments are so decayed that no details of the cords and their combinations can be made out.

In Fig. 103 we have a thoroughly satisfactory restoration from a small fragment of pottery picked up in the District of Columbia. It is shown a little larger than natural size in the drawing. The impression is so perfect that the twist of the cord and the form of the knot may be seen with ease. Most of the examples from this locality are of much finer cord and have a less open mesh than the specimen ill.u.s.trated. It is a noteworthy fact that in one of these specimens an incised pattern has been added to the surface of the soft clay after the removal of the net.

Recent collections from the mounds of Western North Carolina have brought to light many examples of net-marked pottery. Generally the impressions are quite obscure, but enough can be seen in the cast to show clearly the character of the fabric. The restoration given in Fig. 104 represents an average mesh, others being finer and others coa.r.s.er. Another specimen from the same collection is shown in Fig. 105.

The impression is not very distinct, bat there is an apparent doubling of the cords, indicating a very unusual combination. It is possible that this may have come from the imperfect imprinting, but I can detect no indications of a s.h.i.+fting of the net upon the soft clay.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 103.--From ancient pottery, District of Columbia.]