Linda
06-22-2002, 06:59 PM
I'm going to be getting some of Penelope Drooker's books. There's a pretty blank record of what our SE NDN ancestors wore. My first hunch was that they must have worn fabrics, since it's too hot to be wearing leather year round. I asked some re-enactors, who do a lot of research on dress, about this and they pooh poohed it and said that our people would have been too primitive for something as complex as weaving!
So I asked, if they weren't weaving, what's all this fabric impressed pottery shards we find everywhere down here? I guess they were just weaving little squares of fabric just for that. Yeah right, you use rags on wet clay.
So this lady is in a position to properly research all this. Thanks, Penelope.
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<h3 align="left">Native American Fabrics in Eastern North America</h3>
<p align="left">Principal Investigator: Penelope B. Drooker
Project years: ongoing
Keywords: fabrics, basketry, clothing, eastern North American archaeology
and ethnography
Geographic extent: eastern North America
Project Background: Production of yarn and fabrics for bags, blankets,
sashes, arm and leg bands, utilitarian and ceremonial garments, footwear,
hunting and fishing nets, and such objects as wampum belts, as well as more
rigid constructions for mats and baskets, was an essential part of daily life
throughout eastern North America. Due to poor preservation conditions in this
part of the continent, few such items survive from prehistoric times, and what
does survive usually consists of carbonized fragments. Archaeologists therefore
have tended to overlook fabrics and basketry when reconstructing the social
economy of eastern North America. This means that they also have overlooked a
significant segment of women's work in this region.
Although manufactured cloth obtained through European traders quickly
replaced homespun twined and interlaced fabrics for garments during the early
historical period, the native fabric-making tradition continued and was
elaborated in beaded finger-woven sashes and twined bags. Basket making
continued and thrived, not only for family use but also increasingly for an
external Euroamerican market. From New Brunswick and Maine to Louisiana,
essential cash income has been derived from utilitarian and fancy baskets up to
the present day.
Results to Date: The initial efforts in this project employed an
under-utilized resource-impressions of fabrics, cordage, and basketry on clay
vessels-to investigate fabric production in late prehistoric southeastern and
midwestern North America (Drooker 1990, 1991a, 1991b, 1992, 1993, 1998). As more
and more evidence is amassed, it is clear that fabric making was widespread and
sophisticated, with most women devoting hundreds of hours to spinning and cloth
production during a typical year, and (in many groups) part-time specialists
producing elaborately-decorated ceremonial regalia (Drooker 1992). In fact, some
types of Spanish lace may have been derived from fifteenth century New World
prototypes (Drooker 1991a).
Two volumes covering various aspects of these problems are currently in
press. The first, Fleeting Identities: Perishable Material Culture in
Archaeological Research, edited by Penelope B. Drooker (Center for
Archaeological Investigation, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale), focuses
on theory, methodology, and case histories related to a broad range of
perishable materials including fibers, yarns, fabrics, basketry, leather, wood,
processed foods, and even fragile images in clay-covered cave walls. A chapter
by Drooker provides an overview of how secondary evidence such as impressions of
fabrics and basketry, mineral pseudomorphs (replicas) of disappeared fragile
structures, or drawings and statues depicting perishable objects can be
effectively employed when the primary evidence has vanished.
The second volume, Beyond Cloth and Cordage: Current Approaches to
Archaeological Textile Research in the Americas, edited by Penelope B. Drooker
and Laurie D. Webster (University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City) focuses
specifically on fabrics. Chapters include an in-depth review of textile research
in the Western Hemisphere since 1985 by Webster and Drooker, a guide to field
techniques in recovering fragile fiber artifacts by Jenna T. Kuttruff and Mary
Strickland-Olsen, a review of applicable chemical and physical analytical
techniques by Kathryn Jakes, a model of fabric production, use, and discard by
Annette Ericksen, Kathryn Jakes, and Virginia Wimberly, plus case studies from a
broad range of time periods and geographical regions in the Western Hemisphere.
Current Directions: Although extant organic fabrics and basketry from
prehistoric Southeastern ceremonial centers such as Etowah, Georgia, and Spiro,
Oklahoma, and a few exceptional Northeastern sites such as Boucher, Vermont,
have been studied in some detail, little systematic attention has been paid to
scattered finds from prehistoric and early historical village sites throughout
eastern North America. With analyses of examples from Alabama, Kentucky, and New
York (e.g., Drooker 1996), the earlier research on prehistoric village fabrics
impressed on pottery is being extended into more recent times. Of particular
interest are the fifteenth through nineteenth century tradition of elaborate
finger-woven sashes and structurally complex twined bags, and usage of trade
cloth. Lectures on eastern North American textile history delivered in 1997 and
1998 at the Dickson Mounds Museum in Illinois and the Peabody Museum of Harvard
University currently are being expanded into book form.
<u>Drooker, Penelope B.</u>
1990 Textile Production and Use at Wickliffe Mounds
(15Ba4), Kentucky. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 15(2):163-220.
1991a Mississippian Lace: A Complex Textile Impressed on
Pottery from the Stone Site, Tennessee. Southeastern Archaeology
10(2):79-97.
1991b Prehistoric Textiles at the Stone Site, Stewart
County, Tennessee. Frank H. McClung Museum Research Notes, No. 4.
1992 Mississippian Village Textiles at Wickliffe.
University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.
1993 Matting and Fabric Impressions from Bottle Creek
(1Ba2), Alabama. Journal of Alabama Archaeology 39 (1&2):115-132.
1996 Reports on Mortuary Textiles from the Boughton
Hill, Dann, Geneva, Kipp Island, Marsh, Rice Woods, Silverheels, Tram, and Van
Etten Sites, Mary Jemison's Burial, and Fort William Henry. On file in the
Department of Anthropology, New York State Museum, Albany.
1998 Cordage and Fabrics Impressed on American Bottom
Ceramics, ca. 450 BC-AD 1250: Preliminary Discussion. Report on file, Illinois
Transportation Archaeological Research Project, Urbana.
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So I asked, if they weren't weaving, what's all this fabric impressed pottery shards we find everywhere down here? I guess they were just weaving little squares of fabric just for that. Yeah right, you use rags on wet clay.
So this lady is in a position to properly research all this. Thanks, Penelope.
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0">
<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
<title>New Page 1</title>
</head>
<body>
<h3 align="left">Native American Fabrics in Eastern North America</h3>
<p align="left">Principal Investigator: Penelope B. Drooker
Project years: ongoing
Keywords: fabrics, basketry, clothing, eastern North American archaeology
and ethnography
Geographic extent: eastern North America
Project Background: Production of yarn and fabrics for bags, blankets,
sashes, arm and leg bands, utilitarian and ceremonial garments, footwear,
hunting and fishing nets, and such objects as wampum belts, as well as more
rigid constructions for mats and baskets, was an essential part of daily life
throughout eastern North America. Due to poor preservation conditions in this
part of the continent, few such items survive from prehistoric times, and what
does survive usually consists of carbonized fragments. Archaeologists therefore
have tended to overlook fabrics and basketry when reconstructing the social
economy of eastern North America. This means that they also have overlooked a
significant segment of women's work in this region.
Although manufactured cloth obtained through European traders quickly
replaced homespun twined and interlaced fabrics for garments during the early
historical period, the native fabric-making tradition continued and was
elaborated in beaded finger-woven sashes and twined bags. Basket making
continued and thrived, not only for family use but also increasingly for an
external Euroamerican market. From New Brunswick and Maine to Louisiana,
essential cash income has been derived from utilitarian and fancy baskets up to
the present day.
Results to Date: The initial efforts in this project employed an
under-utilized resource-impressions of fabrics, cordage, and basketry on clay
vessels-to investigate fabric production in late prehistoric southeastern and
midwestern North America (Drooker 1990, 1991a, 1991b, 1992, 1993, 1998). As more
and more evidence is amassed, it is clear that fabric making was widespread and
sophisticated, with most women devoting hundreds of hours to spinning and cloth
production during a typical year, and (in many groups) part-time specialists
producing elaborately-decorated ceremonial regalia (Drooker 1992). In fact, some
types of Spanish lace may have been derived from fifteenth century New World
prototypes (Drooker 1991a).
Two volumes covering various aspects of these problems are currently in
press. The first, Fleeting Identities: Perishable Material Culture in
Archaeological Research, edited by Penelope B. Drooker (Center for
Archaeological Investigation, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale), focuses
on theory, methodology, and case histories related to a broad range of
perishable materials including fibers, yarns, fabrics, basketry, leather, wood,
processed foods, and even fragile images in clay-covered cave walls. A chapter
by Drooker provides an overview of how secondary evidence such as impressions of
fabrics and basketry, mineral pseudomorphs (replicas) of disappeared fragile
structures, or drawings and statues depicting perishable objects can be
effectively employed when the primary evidence has vanished.
The second volume, Beyond Cloth and Cordage: Current Approaches to
Archaeological Textile Research in the Americas, edited by Penelope B. Drooker
and Laurie D. Webster (University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City) focuses
specifically on fabrics. Chapters include an in-depth review of textile research
in the Western Hemisphere since 1985 by Webster and Drooker, a guide to field
techniques in recovering fragile fiber artifacts by Jenna T. Kuttruff and Mary
Strickland-Olsen, a review of applicable chemical and physical analytical
techniques by Kathryn Jakes, a model of fabric production, use, and discard by
Annette Ericksen, Kathryn Jakes, and Virginia Wimberly, plus case studies from a
broad range of time periods and geographical regions in the Western Hemisphere.
Current Directions: Although extant organic fabrics and basketry from
prehistoric Southeastern ceremonial centers such as Etowah, Georgia, and Spiro,
Oklahoma, and a few exceptional Northeastern sites such as Boucher, Vermont,
have been studied in some detail, little systematic attention has been paid to
scattered finds from prehistoric and early historical village sites throughout
eastern North America. With analyses of examples from Alabama, Kentucky, and New
York (e.g., Drooker 1996), the earlier research on prehistoric village fabrics
impressed on pottery is being extended into more recent times. Of particular
interest are the fifteenth through nineteenth century tradition of elaborate
finger-woven sashes and structurally complex twined bags, and usage of trade
cloth. Lectures on eastern North American textile history delivered in 1997 and
1998 at the Dickson Mounds Museum in Illinois and the Peabody Museum of Harvard
University currently are being expanded into book form.
<u>Drooker, Penelope B.</u>
1990 Textile Production and Use at Wickliffe Mounds
(15Ba4), Kentucky. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 15(2):163-220.
1991a Mississippian Lace: A Complex Textile Impressed on
Pottery from the Stone Site, Tennessee. Southeastern Archaeology
10(2):79-97.
1991b Prehistoric Textiles at the Stone Site, Stewart
County, Tennessee. Frank H. McClung Museum Research Notes, No. 4.
1992 Mississippian Village Textiles at Wickliffe.
University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.
1993 Matting and Fabric Impressions from Bottle Creek
(1Ba2), Alabama. Journal of Alabama Archaeology 39 (1&2):115-132.
1996 Reports on Mortuary Textiles from the Boughton
Hill, Dann, Geneva, Kipp Island, Marsh, Rice Woods, Silverheels, Tram, and Van
Etten Sites, Mary Jemison's Burial, and Fort William Henry. On file in the
Department of Anthropology, New York State Museum, Albany.
1998 Cordage and Fabrics Impressed on American Bottom
Ceramics, ca. 450 BC-AD 1250: Preliminary Discussion. Report on file, Illinois
Transportation Archaeological Research Project, Urbana.
</p>
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</html>