Annual report of the Bureau of ethnology to the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution .. . xplorers of these caves haveobtained numerous textile articles of interest. Charred Remains of Fabrics from Mounds. That the well-preserved fabrics just illustrated represent fairly thetextile work of the mound-builders is practically demonstrated by theevidence furnished by the mounds themselves. From hundreds ofsources come the same story; and it is not necessary here to enter intoany elaborate discussion of the subject or to multiply illustrations. Ipresent in plates VI and VII specimens of mound f
Annual report of the Bureau of ethnology to the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution .. . xplorers of these caves haveobtained numerous textile articles of interest. Charred Remains of Fabrics from Mounds. That the well-preserved fabrics just illustrated represent fairly thetextile work of the mound-builders is practically demonstrated by theevidence furnished by the mounds themselves. From hundreds ofsources come the same story; and it is not necessary here to enter intoany elaborate discussion of the subject or to multiply illustrations. Ipresent in plates VI and VII specimens of mound fabrics which, sincethey were burned with the dead, undoubtedly formed part of the cloth-ing- of the living or were wrappings of articles deposited with thebodies. These coarse cloths may be considered as fairly representingthe weaving of the mound-builders. There are among them some finerexamples of weaving than those obtained from the caves and sheltersof Tennessee and Kentucky, but there is nothing specifically differ-ent in material or methods of combination, and there is nothing what-. Fio. 9.—Sandal or moccasin from a Kentucky cave. ever to suggest a higher stage of culture than that of the historicIndian. The fiber is quite tine and is more probably of hemp than of thebark of trees. The strands are generally well twisted and even, thetwist being in most cases to the right, or as if twisted on the thighwith a downward movement of the right hand, the thread being heldin the left. As in the case of cave fabrics as well as the work of themodern peoples of the region, the weaving is nearly all in the twinedstyle, of which there are two varieties; one in which each strand ofthe web is in turn inclosed simply by the woof twisted in pairs, andthe other in which alternate pairs of the web strands are inclosed !>\the twined pairs of the woof. Cloths woven in the fust method areoften quite close, as the woof threads are readily pressed or poundeddown on one another entirely hid
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