SIMPLE FORMS OF FABKICS. 



401 



FIRST GROUP. 



Fig-. 62 illustrates a small fragment of an ordinary coffee sack which 

 I take as a type of the first group. It is a loosely woven fabric of the 

 simplest construction; the two sets of threads being interwoven at 

 right angles to each other, alternate threads of one series passing over 

 and under each of the opposing series as shown in the section, Fig. 03. 



It is a remarkable fact that loosely woven examples of this kind of 

 cloth are rarely, if ever, found among the impressions upon clay or in 

 the fabrics themselves where preserved by the salts of copper or by char- 

 ring. The reason of this probably is that the combination is such that 

 when loosely woven the threads would not remain in place under tension, 

 and the twisted and knotted varieties were consequently preferred. 



Fig. 62.— Type of Group one— portion of a coffee sack. 



Fig. C3.-Section. 



It is possible that many of the very irregular impressions observed, 

 iu which it is so difficult to trace the combinations of the threads, are 

 of distorted fabrics of this class. 



This stuff may be woven by hand iu a simple frame, or by any of 

 the primitive forms of the loom. 



In most eases, so far as the impressions upon pottery show, when this 

 particular combination is employed, the warp is generally very heavy 

 and the woof comparatively light. This gives a cloth differing greatly 

 from the type in appearance ; and when, as is usually the case, the woof 

 threads are beaten down tightly, obscuring those of'the web, the resem- 

 blance to the type is quite lost. 



Examples of this kind of weaving may be obtained from the fictile re- 

 mains of nearly all the Atlantic States. 



The specimen presented in Fig. 61 was obtained from a small frag- 

 ment of ancient pottery from the State of New York. 



It is generally quite difficult to determine which set of threads is the 

 warp and which the woof. In most cases I have preferred to call the 

 3 ETII— 26 



