Textile Fibers used in Eastern Aboriginal North AmericaWhitford, A. C.
History
Textile Fibers used in Eastern Aboriginal North America
Whitford, A. C.
Indian textile fabrics -- East (U.S.); Textile fibers
In this Museum were observed the following objects in which this fiber
was used in whole or in combination with other fiber: a Sauk and Fox
bag (50-4886); a Delaware drum string (50.1-1609); a Delaware burden
strap (50-7244); a Matchapunga fish net (50.1-9911); and a cord used,
for wrapping on a spear (50.1-7475), Micmac. In the Museum of the
American Indian, Heye Foundation, is a Kickapoo ball of string
(2-5294) made of this fiber. In an Iroquois wampum belt (M1913) in the
Archaeological Museum of McGill University, the beads are strung on
cords made from this fiber. An Iroquois burden strap (AE 360) in the
Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences is composed of this fiber. Fiber
of this species was also used by the prehistoric cave and rock-shelter
people of Ohio as is shown by a fish net (OSHAM 332-23) in the Ohio
State Historical and Archaeological Museum.
BETULACEAE, Agardh. (Birch Family)
The paper birch (_Betula papyrifera_, Marsh.) was encountered in one
specimen (AMNH 50.2-1792). The bark was untreated, simply twisted into
a cord. In a specimen of Iroquois horsehair embroidery (McGU H49) the
bark had received no preliminary treatment, but was used in the raw
state.
CANNABINACEAE, Lindl. (Hop Family)
This introduced plant, hemp (_Cannabis sativa_, L.), was found in four
specimens, evidently made in post-Columbian times as the plant is not
indigenous to the Western Hemisphere, but was introduced by the
colonists at a very early date. It was found in a bag (MPM 28116) made
by the Wisconsin Potawatomi Indians. A bowstring on an Algonkin bow
(AMNH 50.2-4221A) is made from this fiber as are also portions of an
Oneida burden strap (AMNH 50.1-1800).
DAPHNACEAE (Mezereon Family)
This moose or leatherwood fiber (_Dirca palustris_, L.) was
encountered eleven times in as widely separated states as Arkansas and
Wisconsin. It was used both in the raw state, as strips twisted into
cord, and as treated fiber in finer cords and threads. A prehistoric
mat made by the inhabitants of Bushwick Cave, Arkansas, is composed of
this material (MAIHF 19-4635). Cloth of the Adena culture made, in
part, from this bast fiber (1200) is in the Ohio State Historical and
Archaeological Museum. In the Milwaukee Public Museum is a Wisconsin
Potawatomi bag (23447) in which the weft is nicely prepared fiber
from this plant. In the collections of this Museum is a Winnebago bag
(50-784D) woven with two kinds of cord; light colored cord of _Dirca
palustris_ and dark colored cord of _Tilia americana_.
JUGLANDACEAE, Lindl. (Walnut Family)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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