Chapter 2

Fig. 79 represents another interesting specimen from the pottery of the same locality. The border is woven somewhat differently from the body of the fabric, two threads of the woof being included in each loop of the warp.

Fig. 80 is from the pottery of the same locality. The threads are much more closely woven than those already given.

The next example, Fig. 81, impressed upon a fragment of clay from Arkansas, has been made of coarse, well-twisted cords. An ornamental border has been produced by looping the cords of the woof, which seem to have been five in number, each one passing over four others before recrossing the warp.

In no locality are so many fine impressions of textiles upon clay vessels found as in the ancient salt-making districts of the Mississippi Valley. The huge bowl or tub-like vessels used by the primitive salt-makers have very generally been modeled in coarse nets, or otherwise have had many varieties of netting impressed upon them for ornament.

In the accompanying plate (XXXIX) two fine examples of these impressions are given. They are somewhat more clearly defined than the majority of those from which the other illustrations are made.

Fig. 82 illustrates a specimen in which every detail is perfectly preserved. Only a small portion of the original is shown in the cut. The cords are heavy and well twisted, but the spacing is somewhat irregular. I observe one interesting fact in regard to this impression. The fabric has apparently been applied to the inverted vessel, as the loose cords of the woof which run parallel with the rim droop or hang in festoons between the cords of the warp as shown in the illustration, which is here placed, as drawn from the inverted fragment. The inference to be drawn from this fact is that the fabric was applied to the exterior of the vessel, after it was completed and inverted, for the purpose of enhancing its beauty. When we recollect, however, that these vessels were probably built for service only, with thick walls and rude finish, we are at a loss to see why so much pains should have been taken in their embellishment. It seems highly probable that, generally, the inspiring idea was one of utility, and that the fabric served in some way as a support to the pliable clay, or that the network of shallow impressions was supposed to act after the manner of a _dégraissant_ to neutralize the tendency to fracture.

Another example from the same locality is shown in Fig. 83. This is similar to that shown in the lower figure of Plate XXXIX. It is very neatly woven of evenly spun and well-twisted thread. The double series is widely spaced as shown in the drawing.

The very interesting specimen illustrated in Fig. 84 was obtained from a small fragment of pottery found in Fort Ripley County, Missouri. The combination of the two series of threads or strands clearly indicates the type of fabric under consideration, the twisted cords of the warp being placed very far apart. The remarkable feature of this example is the character of the woof, which seems to be a broad braid formed by plaiting three strands of untwisted fiber, probably bast. All the details are shown in the most satisfactory manner in the clay cast.

The open character of the web in this specimen assists very much, in explaining the structure of tightly-woven examples such as that shown in Fig. 85, in which the cross cords are so closely placed that the broad bands of the opposing series are completely hidden.

I have made the drawing to show fillets of fiber appearing at the ends. These do not appear in the impression. It is highly probable, however, that these fillets are plaited bands, as in the preceding example. They are wide and flat, giving somewhat the effect of basket-work of splints or of rushes. This specimen was obtained in Carter County, Tennessee.

We have a few pieces of this variety of fabric which have been preserved by contact with the salts of copper. Professor Farquharson describes an example from a mound on the banks of the Mississippi River, near the city of Davenport. It had been wrapped about a copper implement resembling a celt, and was at the time of its recovery in a very perfect state of preservation. In describing this cloth Mr. Farquharson says that "the warp is composed of four cords, that is, of _two double and twisted_ cords, and the woof of _one_ such doubled and twisted cord which passes between the two parts of the warp; the latter being twisted at each change, allowing the cords to be brought close together so as to cover the woof almost entirely." His illustration is somewhat erroneous, the artist not having had quite a clear understanding of the combination of threads. This cloth has a general resemblance to ordinary coffee-sacking. In Fig. 86 I give an illustration of this fabric derived from the opposite side of the celt.

Although I am not quite positive, it is my opinion, after having examined the specimen carefully, that the body of the cloth belongs to my first group and that the border only is of the second group. My section and drawing give a clear idea of the construction of this fabric. A finely-preserved bit of cloth belonging to the group under consideration was recently found fixed to the surface of a copper image from one of the Etowah mounds in Georgia.

This form of weaving is very common among the productions of the modern tribes of Western America. A very good example is shown in Fig. 87, which represents the border of a cape like garment made by the Clyoquot Indians, of Vancouver's Island. It is woven, apparently, of the fiber of bark, both web and woof showing considerable diversity in the size of the cords. The border has been strengthened by sewing in a broad, thin fillet of rawhide.

The beautiful mats of the northwest coast peoples, from California to Ounalaska, are often woven in this manner, the materials being bast, grass, or rushes.

The Lake Dwellers of Switzerland seem to have made a great many varieties of cloth of this type. I have reproduced four examples from the great work of Dr. Keller. Fig. 88 is copied from his Fig. 1, Plate CXXXV. It exhibits some variations from the type, double strips of bast being bound by a woof consisting of alternate strips of bast and cords. It is from Robenhausen.

In Figs. 89 and 90 we have typical examples from the same locality. The woof series seems to consist of untwisted strands of bast or flax.

THIRD GROUP.

A third form of fabric is distinguished from the last by marked peculiarities in the combinations of the threads. The threads of the warp are arranged in pairs as in the last form described, but are twisted in such a way as to inclose two of the opposing series instead of one, each succeeding pair of warp threads taking up alternate pairs of the woof threads, as shown in the section, Fig. 91. This is a very interesting variety, and apparently one that would possess coherence and elasticity of a very high order.

In Fig. 92 a simple scheme of plaiting or weaving this material is suggested. It will be seen to differ from the last chiefly in the way in which the woof is taken up by the warp.

The ancient pottery of the Mississippi Valley furnishes many examples of this fabric. It is made of twisted cords and threads of sizes similar to those of the other work described, varying from the weight of ordinary spool cotton to that of heavy twine. The mesh is generally quite open.

In Fig. 93 we have a very well preserved example from Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee. It was obtained from a large fragment of coarse pottery. Other pieces are nearly twice as coarse, while some are much finer.

Figs. 94 and 95 are finer specimens from the same locality.

We have also good examples from Saline River, Illinois. They are obtained from fragments of the gigantic salt vessels so plentiful in that locality.

The upper figure of Plate XXXIX illustrates one of these specimens. Other examples hare been obtained from Roane County, Tennessee.

A piece of charred cloth from a mound in Butler County, Ohio, has been woven in this manner. Foster has described examples of the two preceding forms from the same locality. The material used is a vegetable fiber obtained from the bark of trees or from some fibrous weed. This specimen is now in the National Museum.

An interesting variety of this form is given in Fig. 96. It is from a small piece of pottery exhumed from a mound on Fain's Island, Jefferson County, Tennessee. The threads of the woof are quite close together, those of the web far apart.

A very fine example of this variety of fabric was obtained by Dr. Tarrow from an ancient cemetery near Dos Pueblos, Cal. It is illustrated in Fig. 2, Plate XIV, vol. VII, of Surveys West of the 100th Meridian.[4] In describing it, Professor Putnam says that the fiber is probably obtained from a species of _yucca_. He says that "the woof is made of two strands, crossing the warp in such a manner that the strands alternate in passing, over and under it, and at the same time inclosing two alternate strands, of the latter, making a letter X figure of the warp, united at the center of the X by the double strands of the woof." It should be noticed that the series of cords called the woof by Professor Putnam are designated as warp in my own descriptions. The illustration shows a fabric identical with that given in the upper figure of Plate XXXIX, and the description quoted describes perfectly the type of fabric under consideration.

[Footnote 4: Putnam, F. W., in Vol. VII of Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, page 244.]

This method of weaving is still practiced by some of the western tribes, as may be seen by a visit to the national collection.

A somewhat complicated arrangement of the threads may be seen in the fabric shown in Fig. 97. It is clearly only a variation of the combination just described. The manner in which the threads pass over, under, and across each other can be more easily understood by reference to the figure than by any description. It comes from one of the Northwest coast tribes.

FOURTH GROUP.

A fourth form of fabric, illustrated in Fig. 98, is of very rare occurrence on our fictile remains.

It is a very neatly woven diagonal from the ancient pottery of Polk County, Tennessee. Two series of cords have been interwoven at right angles to each other, but so arranged as to produce a diagonal pattern. One series of the cords is fine and well twisted, the other coarser and very slightly twisted.

The remarkable sample of matting shown in Fig. 99 is from a small piece of pottery from Alabama. It has been worked in the diagonal style, but is somewhat different from the last example. It has probably been made of rushes or heavy blades of grass.

The texture shown in Fig. 100 is from a rather indistinct impression upon a small fragment of pottery from Iowa. One series of the strands seems to have been quite rigid, while the other has been pliable, and appear in the impression only where they have crossed the rigid series. The dotted lines indicate their probable course on the under side of the cross threads.

This form of fabric is very common in modern work.

FIFTH GROUP.

In Fig. 101 I present a variety of ancient fabric which has not to my knowledge been found upon ceramic products. This specimen shows the method of plaiting sandals practiced by the ancient inhabitants of Kentucky. Numbers of these very interesting relics have been obtained from the great caves of that State. They are beautifully woven, and well shaped to the foot.

The fiber has the appearance of bast and is plaited in untwisted strands, after the manner shown in the illustration. Professor Putman describes a number of cast-off sandals from Salt Cave, Kentucky, as "neatly made of finely braided and twisted leaves of rushes."[5]

[Footnote 5: Putnam, F. W. Eighth Annual Report of the Peabody Museum, p. 49.]

Fig. 102 illustrates a somewhat similar method of plaiting practiced by the Lake Dwellers of Switzerland, from one of Keller's figures.[6]

[Footnote 6: Keller, Dr. F. Lake Dwellers. Fig. 3; Pl. CXXXVI.]

SIXTH GROUP.

The art of making nets of spun and twisted cords seems to have been practiced by many of the ancient peoples of America. Beautiful examples have been found in the _huacas_ of the Incas and in the tombs of the Aztecs. They were used by the prehistoric tribes of California and the ancient inhabitants of Alaska. Nets were in use by the Indians of Florida and Virginia at the time of the discovery, and the ancient pottery of the Atlantic States has preserved impressions of a number of varieties. It is possible that some of these impressions may be from European nets, but we have plentiful historical proof that nets of hemp were in use by the natives, and as all of this pottery is very old it is probable that the impressions upon the fragments are from nets of native manufacture.

Wyman states that nets or net impressions have not been found among the antiquities of Tennessee. I have found, however, that the pottery of Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland furnish examples of netting in great numbers. In many cases the meshes have been distorted by stretching and overlapping so that the fabric cannot be examined in detail; in other cases the impressions have been so deep that casts cannot be taken, and in a majority of cases the fragments are so decayed that no details of the cords and their combinations can be made out.

In Fig. 103 we have a thoroughly satisfactory restoration from a small fragment of pottery picked up in the District of Columbia. It is shown a little larger than natural size in the drawing. The impression is so perfect that the twist of the cord and the form of the knot may be seen with ease. Most of the examples from this locality are of much finer cord and have a less open mesh than the specimen illustrated. It is a noteworthy fact that in one of these specimens an incised pattern has been added to the surface of the soft clay after the removal of the net.

Recent collections from the mounds of Western North Carolina have brought to light many examples of net-marked pottery. Generally the impressions are quite obscure, but enough can be seen in the cast to show clearly the character of the fabric. The restoration given in Fig. 104 represents an average mesh, others being finer and others coarser. Another specimen from the same collection is shown in Fig. 105. The impression is not very distinct, bat there is an apparent doubling of the cords, indicating a very unusual combination. It is possible that this may have come from the imperfect imprinting, but I can detect no indications of a shifting of the net upon the soft clay.

Many interesting examples could be given, both from the ancient and modern work of the inhabitants of the Pacific coast, but for the present I shall content myself by presenting a single example from the Lake Dwellings of Switzerland (Fig. 106):

MISCELLANEOUS FORMS.

The forms of fabrics used by the ancient tribes of the Middle and Northern Atlantic States in the manufacture and ornamentation of their pottery have differed materially from those used in the South and West. As a rule the fragments are smaller and the impressions less perfectly preserved. The fabrics have been more complicated and less carefully applied to the vessel. In many cases the impressions seem to have been made from disconnected bands, belts, or strips of cloth. Single cords, or cords arranged in groups by rolling on sticks, or by other contrivances, have been extensively employed. Baskets have doubtless been used, some of which have been woven, but others have apparently been of bark or skin, with stitched designs of thread or quills. Some of the impressions suggest the use of woven vessels or fabrics filled up with clay or resin, so that the prominences only are imprinted, or otherwise cloths may have been used in which raised figures were worked.

Fig. 107 is obtained from a fragment of pottery from New Jersey. The impressions are extremely puzzling, but are such as I imagine might be made by the use of a basket, the meshes of which had been filled up with clay or resin so that only the more prominent ridges or series of thongs remain uncovered to give impressions upon the clay. But the threads or thongs indicate a pliable net rather than a basket, and the appearance of the horizontal threads at the ends of the series of raised stitches suggests that possibly the material may have been bark or smooth cloth with a heavy pattern stitched into it.

Very similar to the above is the example given in Fig. 108, also derived from the pottery of New Jersey.

Fig. 109 illustrates an impression upon another fragment from the same state. This impression may have been made by a piece of birch bark or fine fabric with a pattern sewed into it with cords or quills.

Fig. 110 illustrates an impression upon a large, well-made vase, with scalloped rim, from Easton, Pa. The character of the fabric is difficult to make out, the impression suggesting bead-work. That it is from a fabric, however, is evident from the fact that there is system and uniformity in the arrangement of markings, the indentations alternating as in the impressions of fabrics of the simplest type. Yet there is an appearance of patchwork in the impression that suggests separate applications of the material.

In Figs. 111 and 112 we have what appear to be impressions of bands or belts. The first shown consists of six parallel cords, coarse and well twisted, with a border of short cord indentations placed at regular intervals. This is a very usual form in all parts of the country, from the Mandan towns of the Missouri to Florida. It is possible that the cords may in this case have been separately impressed, but the example given in Fig. 112 is undoubtedly from, a woven band or belt, the middle portion of which seems to have been a closely-woven cloth, with a sort of pattern produced by series of raised or knotted threads. The borders consist of single longitudinal cord impressions with an edging of short cord indentations placed at right angles to the belt.

Similar to the last is the very effective decorative design impressed upon a large fragment of pottery from Alabama, shown in Fig. 113. The peculiarity of this example is the use of plaited instead of twisted cords. The work is neatly done and very effective. It seems to me almost certain that single cords have been used. They have been so imprinted as to form a zone, filled with groups of lines placed at various angles. An ornamental border of short lines has been added, as in the examples previously given.

Two other examples of cord ornamentation, which may be duplicated from the pottery of almost any of the Atlantic States, are presented in Figs. 114 and 115, the first from a fragment of pottery from Charles County, Maryland, and the other from the pottery of Alabama.

It will readily be seen that it is extremely difficult to draw a line between an ornamentation produced by the use of single or grouped cords and that made by the use of fabrics.

It is not less difficult to say just how much of this use of cords and fabrics is to be attributed to manufacture simply and how much to ornament.

Although the restorations here presented certainly throw considerable light upon the textile fabrics of the ancient inhabitants of the Atlantic States, it cannot be affirmed that anything like a complete idea of their fabrics has been gained. Impressions upon pottery represent a class of work utilized in the fictile arts. We cannot say what other fabrics were produced and used for other purposes.

However this may be, attention should be called to the fact that the work described, though varied and ingenious, exhibits no characters in execution or design not wholly consonant with the art of a stone-age people. There is nothing superior to or specifically different from the work of our modern Indians.

The origin of the use of fabrics and of separate cords in the ornamentation of pottery is very obscure. Baskets and nets were doubtless in use by many tribes throughout their pottery making period. The shaping of earthen vessels in or upon baskets either of plain bark or of woven splints or of fiber must frequently have occurred. The peculiar impressions left upon the clay probably came in time to be regarded as ornamental, and were applied for purposes of embellishment alone. Decorative art has thus been enriched by many elements of beauty. These now survive in incised, stamped, and painted designs. The forms as well as the ornamentation of clay vessels very naturally preserve traces of the former intimacy of the two arts.

Since the stereotyping of these pages I have come upon a short paper by George E. Sellers (Popular Science Monthly, Vol. XI, p. 573), in which is given what I believe to be a correct view of the use of nets in the manufacture of the large salt vessels referred to on pages 398 and 409. The use of interior conical moulds of indurated clay makes clear the reasons for the reversed festooning of the cords to which I called attention.

INDEX

Cord-markings on pottery 423

Diagonal textiles 416