PREHISTORIC TEXTILE FABRICS OF THE UNITED STATES, 

 DERIVED FROM IMPRESSIONS ON POTTERY. 



By W. H. Holmes. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



It is iiDt my intention in this paper to make an exhaustive study of 

 the art of weaving as practiced by the ancient peoples of this country. 

 To do this would necessitate a very extended study of tbe materials used 

 and of the methods of preparing them, as well as of the arts of spinning 

 and weaving practiced by primitive peoples generally. This would be 

 a very wide field, and one which I have no need of entering. I may 

 state here, however, that the materials used by savages in weaving their 

 simple fabrics consist generally of the fibre of bark, flax, hemp, nettles, 

 and grasses, which is spun into thread of various sizes; or of splints of 

 wood, twigs, roots, vines, porcupine quills, feathers, and a variety of 

 animal tissues, either plaited or used in an untwisted state. The articles 

 produced are mats, baskets, nets, bags, plain cloths, and entire gar- 

 ments, such as capes, hats, belts, aud sandals. 



It has been noticed by a few authors that twisted or plaited cords, as 

 well as a considerable variety of woven fabrics, have been used by primi- 

 tive tribes in the manufacture and ornamentation of pottery. Impres- 

 Mons of these made iu the soft clay are frequently preserved on very 

 ancient ware, the original fabrics having long since crumbled to dust. 

 It is to these that I propose calling attention, their restoration having 

 been successfully accomplished in many hundreds of cases by taking 

 impressious in clay from the ancient pottery. 



The perfect mauner in which the fabric in all its details of plaiting, 

 netting, and weaving can be brought out is a matter of astonishment; 

 the cloth itself could hardly make all the particulars of its construction 

 more manifest. 



The examples presented in the accompanying plate wdl be very 

 instructive, as the fragment of pottery is given on the left, with its 

 rather obscure intaglio impressions, and the clay cast on the right with 

 the cords of the fabric in high relief. The great body of illustrations 

 have been made iu pen directly from the clay impressions, and, although 



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