ABORIGINAL AMERICAN BASKETRY. 



383 



coarse yarn; the work i.s over two, l)oth in war[) and weft; the weav- 

 ing is oblique. The ett'ect of this technie is ))leasing and unique, the 

 components being l)ands of ck)se work alternating witii bands of open- 

 work, made up of sloping elements giving great variety to unity. 



It will be seen that the checker and the twilled work in ancient 

 eastern North America had al)out the same distribution as now. 



Twined weavin"- was connuon throughout the Middle and Eastern 

 States of the Union in prehistoric times. Fabrics of this class were 

 employed by the ancient i)otters in nearly all of the States. Every 

 variety of twined weaving known to the modern Indian was practiced 



Fig. 120. 

 twined fishtrap. 

 Virginia Indians. 

 After Thomas Hariot. 



by the old-time people — the mound-))uilders especially. Holmes 

 figures examples from potter}' in Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, Illi- 

 nois, Missouri, and Iowa. Even the intricate and delicate forms of 

 twined weaving described on page 234 as zig-zag or divided warp and 

 crossed warp were well known. 



The ancient pottery of the Mississippi Valley furnishes many ex- 

 amples of this, as will l)c seen in Holmes's papers." 



Traces of wattled work are found in the mounds of the Lower Mis- 



« Prehistoric Textile Fabrics of tlie United States, Third Annual Report of the 

 Bureau of Ethnology, 1884; Prehistoric Textile Art of Eastern United .States, the 

 same, Thirteenth Annual Report, 1896; and, A Study of the Textile Art, etc., Sixth 

 Annual Report, 1888. 



