Ohio History Journal

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TEXTILE FABRICS FROM THE BURIAL MOUNDS OF

TEXTILE FABRICS FROM THE BURIAL MOUNDS OF

THE GREAT EARTHWORK BUILDERS OF OHIO

By CHARLES C. WILLOUGHBY

 

 

A brief description of the various types of primitive weaving

shown in the cloth from the burial mounds of the great earthwork

builders of Ohio will help materially to a clearer understanding

of the early pre-loom stages of the textile art in general which

probably passed through a similar evolution in certain other parts

of the world. Primitive weaving doubtless had its origin in the

building of fish weirs, game fences and wattle work of other

kinds, the refined technic of which appears in many of the mound

cloths.

There seems to be no evidence of the employment of the loom

in producing any of the fabrics from the Ohio mounds. A crude

framework consisting of two stakes and a crossbar or a similar

contrivance was probably in use for suspending the warp in the

larger pieces but the manipulation of the woof seems to have been

principally the work of the fingers, perhaps in some instances

aided by a twig or needle.

Most if not all of these mound types of woven cloth have

continued among various tribes into early historic times. Some

of the finer and more elaborate varieties obtained from early his-

toric Indians of the Great Lakes area have not been found in the

Ohio mounds but this does not prove that at least some of them

were not known to the earthwork builders.

The greater portion of the cloth from these mounds has been

preserved by carbonization and is of a jet black color. It has

often been found with cremated human remains or been taken

from sacrificial altars. Other pieces have been preserved by con-

tact with native copper objects placed with ordinary burials. Such

pieces often are stained green in spots with copper carbonate

which is an excellent preservative. Fragments thus preserved

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