HOLMES] PRESERVATION OF FABRICS. 29 



I pass on to an examination of the archeologio material which includes 

 traces or remnants of the weaver's work from all sections of the coun- 

 try. As already mentioned, there are a number of ways in which textile 

 articles or data relating to them may be preserved in such manner as 

 to permit examination and study. 



Through charring by the use of fire in burial rites, and by contact 

 with copper or preservative salts in burial caves, numerous pieces of 

 cloth and parts of costumes have come into our possession. One of the 

 most fertile sources of information has but recently been made availa- 

 ble. The ancient potter employed woven fabrics in handling, finishing, 

 and decorating pottery. From mounds, graves, and dwelling sites, all 

 over the country, vases and sherds are found covered with impressions 

 of these fabrics, and so well preserved that by taking casts in clay or 

 wax entirely satisfactory restorations are made. Something may be 

 learned from the recovery of implements of spinning and weaving, but 

 up to this time the only relics secured are a few rather rude spindle 

 whorls. 



I shall present in the following paragraphs such portions of the avail- 

 able data as seem calculated to illustrate briefly and clearly the nature 

 of the ancient art. 



Fabrics krom Cavks ani> Shklters. 



At an early date in the history of the country reports began to And 

 their way into print relating to the discovery of mortuary fabrics in 

 caverns and shelters. Extracts from some of these publications may 

 be given. 



From the writing of John IIayw(tod liistorian of Tennessee, we have 

 the following: 



In the spring of the year 1811, w:is foiuiil iu ;i coi-iperas cave iu Warreu rounty, in 

 West Tennessee, ahout 15 miles southwest from Sparta, and 20 from McMinnville, 

 the bodies of two human beings, which had been covered by the dirt or ore from 

 which copperas was made. One of these persons was a male, the other a female. 

 They were interred in baskets, made of cane, curiously wrought, and evidencing 

 great mechanic skill. They were both dislocated at the hip joint, and were placed 

 erect in the baskets, with a covering made of cane to fit the baskets iu which they 

 were placed. The flesh of these persons was entire and nndecayed, of a brown dry- 

 ish colour, produced by time, the flesli having adhered closely to the bones and sin- 

 ews. Around the female, next her body, was placed a well dressed deer skin. Next 

 to this was placed a rug, very curiously wrought, of the bark of a tree and feathers. 

 The bark seemed to have been formed of small strands well twisted. Around 

 each of these strands, feathers were rolled, and the whole woven into a cloth of lirm 

 texture, after the manner of our common coarse fabrics. This rug was about throe 

 feet wide, and between six and seven feet in length. The whole of the ligaments 

 thus framed of bark were completely covered with feathers, forming a body of about 

 one eighth of an inch in thickness, the feathers extending about one quarter of an 

 inch in length from the strand to which they were confined. The appearance was 

 highly diversified by green, blue, yellow and black, presenting different shades of 

 colour when reflected upon by tlie light in dift'erent positions. The next covering 

 was an undressed deer skin, around which was rolled, in good order, a pl.ain shroud 

 manufactured after the same order as the one ornameuted with feathers. This article 

 resembled very much in its texture the bags generally used for the purpose of hold- 



