pip. ?fo^' 2^5Y' JOII^ H. KERR RESERVOIR BASIN — ^MILLER 177 



Figure 34. — Positive impression of textile obtained by the use of latex on the surface of 

 sherd from Clarksville site, 44Mcl4. (See Holmes, 1896, fig. 23.) 



The loom illustrated not only has an attacliment to the tree at one end, 

 but the other is held firmly in position by the weaver's left hand leav- 

 ing the right free to manipulate the weft elements into position across 

 the warp. Apparently two loom types were known and used by the 

 aborigines of southern Virginia, as indicated by drawings and the 

 various records of the early settlers. 



A series of fabrics has been determined from a large number of 

 textile-impressed and fabric-marked sherds. We also found a number 

 of sherds bearing the impressions of coiled basketry. This type dis- 

 plays large corrugations (fig. 34), in which the impressions of parallel 

 elements are to be seen. By taking latex impressions of the surface 

 of such sherds, it was defuiitely established that this type of basket 

 existed throughout the basin. Bushnell (1935, p. 50) pointed out that 

 coiled baskets were thought to be unknown to historic Siouan and 

 Algonquian tribes of Virginia and that they were evidently made and 

 used by groups which preceded them and by whom "the early earthen- 

 ware vessels had likewise been fashioned." He, too, found fragments 

 of pots bearing basket impressions which he attributed to the "oldest 

 type of pottery found on the site." The type to which he referred is 

 more likely what the writer has termed "fabric-marked" of the type 

 found at the Hyco site (44Ha7). 



Ashley (1932) found basket-impressed sherds at Etowah and 

 Carters Quarters in Georgia. There is a time differential here as these 

 sites are much later than those of southern Virginia and belong to 

 the Mississippian culture. 



Harrington (1922), on the other hand, found in the Ozark Bluff 

 Dweller sites of Arkansas and Mississippi several specimens of 

 coiled baskets which have been attributed to the early Woodland 

 culture. 



Then,Byrd (1901) stated: 



One of the men, who had been an old Indian Trader brought me a Stem of Silk 

 Grass," which was about as big as my little Finger. But, being so late in the 

 Year that the Leaf was fallen off, I am not able to describe the Plant. 



^2 Sllkgrass (Agroetia hyemalis) Is sometimes known as halrgrass or ticklegrass. 



