Alternate-pair twining

Figure 11. Alternate-pair twine, two-ply, S-twist yarns, No. 840, Burial 57, Etowah, scanning electron micrograph, 94X.

The Mound C earspool also has pseudomorphs that may be related to an alternate-pair twine. If so, the earspool exhibits a variation that requires more foresight and planning than that associated with spaced weft twine. Alternate-pair twining involves an alternation of spans for the action pair (weft in this case) (15). Again, the corrosion obscures the evidence. 

Further analysis of the fabrication techniques employed in the production of these examples also is necessary. The Etowah bundle, for example, should be unfolded, while using correct conservation methods, and its structure should be subjected to detailed scrutiny. Only then can its relation to the fragments from the same burial on display in the Etowah Mound Museum and other Mississippian fabrics be known. When more data about the phenomenon of fabric pseudomorphism are obtained, then questions associated with the Tunacunnhee objects can be answered. Certainly the relationship between alternate-pair twined fabric found in both sites in Georgia deserves further study. 

The Hopewell peoples did produce finely twined fabrics of various types (12,18). Church (18) indicates that the most common type found in three Ohio Hopewell mounds is a spaced alternate-pair weft twining. One instance of alternate-pair action was observed on the Tunacunnhee Mound C earspool, but the general corrosion of the earspool precluded clear identification. 

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