William Henry Holmes

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In support of the idea that ornament was a leading consideration in the employment of these coarse fabrics, we have the well-known fact that simple cord-markings, arranged to form patterns, have been employed by many peoples for embellishment alone. ”

“ It is not impossible, as previously stated, that open fabrics of the plain type were avoided for the reason that the threads would not remain in place if subjected to tension. A very ingenious method of fixing the threads of open work, without resorting to the device of knotting has been extensively employed in the manufacture of ancient textiles. 405 The simplest form of cloth in which this combination is used is shown in Fig. 72. This example, which was obtained from a small fragment of pottery found in Polk County, Tennessee, may be taken as a type. ”

“ 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 413 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 impression, of which this is only a part, indicates that the cloth was considerably distorted when applied to the soft clay. The slipping of one of the woof threads is well shown in the upper part of the figure.
The fabric shown in Fig. 77 has been impressed upon an earthen vessel from Macon, Ga. It has been very well and neatly formed, and all the details of fiber, twist, and combination can be made out. ”

“ 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. ”

“ One of these, a small fragment of a mat apparently made from the fiber of bark, or a fibrous rush, is illustrated in Fig. 67.
This simple combination of the web and woof has been employed by all ancient weavers who have left us examples of their work. The specimen given in Fig. 68 is the work of the ancient Lake-Dwellers 404 of Switzerland. It is a mat plaited or woven of strips of bast, and was found at Robenhausen, having been preserved in a charred state.2 Keller gives another example of a similar fabric of much finer texture in Fig. ”