Part 6 (2/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 23.--Twined fabric from ancient pottery, Carter county, Tennessee.]

In figure 23 we have a similar fabric closely woven or impacted. I have made the drawing to show fillets of fiber appearing at the ends; these do not appear in the impression. It is highly probable, however, that these fillets are plaited bands, as in the preceding example. They are wide and flat, giving somewhat the effect of basket-work of splints or rushes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 24.--Twined fabric from ancient pottery, Tennessee.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 25.--Twined fabric from ancient pottery, Tennessee.]

Another variety of the twined fabrics, distinguished by peculiarities in the combinations of the threads, is ill.u.s.trated in figures 24 and 25.

The threads of the warp are arranged in pairs as in the specimens already 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. Figure 25 is from a small piece of pottery exhumed from a mound on Fain island, Jefferson county, Tennessee. The threads of the woof are quite close together, those of the web being far apart.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 26.--Twined fabric, with patterns, Ohio valley.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 27.--Net from ancient pottery, District of Columbia.]

That the native love of decoration had a marked influence on the weavers' art in its simplest and rudest as well as higher forms is well evinced even in the meager vestiges brought to light by researches in the mounds. Decorative borders and fanciful combinations of strands are shown in some of the preceding cuts, and figure 26, copied from a pottery fragment obtained in the Ohio valley, indicates a more ambitious attempt at embellishment. The fabric was evidently of ornate design and the execution excellent.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY THIRTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. IX BITS OF FABRIC-MARKED POTTERY, WITH CLAY CASTS OF SAME]

Plate IX is intended to convey a clear notion of the nature and appearance of fabric-marked pottery and of the manner of securing positive impressions in clay. Three bits of pottery from Illinois are placed at the left, and the three casts appear at the right. All ill.u.s.trate open fabrics of comparatively simple pattern done in the characteristic twined style.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 28.--Net from ancient pottery, North Carolina.]

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 innumerable specimens. The piece shown in figure 27 is from a small fragment of pottery picked up in the District of Columbia. 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. The net ill.u.s.trated in figure 28 is from a specimen of North Carolina pottery. Netting of this cla.s.s was still in use among the natives of the Chesapeake region when the English colonies were founded.

The lesson of the prehistoric textile art of eastern United States is simple and easily read, and goes far to round out the story of native occupation and culture. Colonial records furnish definite knowledge of the woven fabrics and weaving of the nations first encountered by the whites. Graves, mounds, and caves give us an insight into the pre-Columbian status of the art, and evidence furnished by a.s.sociated industries which happen to echo features of the textile art contribute to our information. Charred cloths from the great mounds are identical in material, combination of parts, and texture with the fabrics of the simple savage. Cloths preserved by contact with copper implements and ornaments characteristic of the art of the builders of the mounds do not differ in any way from the humble work of the historic peoples. All tell the same story of a simple, primitive culture, hardly advanced beyond the grade separating the savage from the barbarous condition.

[51] Nat. and Abor. Hist, of Tenn., John Haywood. Nashville, 1823, pp. 163-165.

[52] Ibid., p. 62.

[53] Trans. and Coll. Amer. Antiq. Soc. Worcester, 1820, vol.

1, pp. 318, 319.

[54] Histoire de la Louisiane. Du Pratz. Paris, 1758, vol. II, p. 191.

[55] Histoire de la Louisiane, Du Pratz. Paris, 1758, vol. II, p. 193.

[56] Recent Archaeological Discoveries in the American Bottom.

Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, March 2, 1877, p. 208.

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