Etowah site

Types of twined fabric structures composed of bast or phloem fibers and feathers were identified in prehistoric fabrics of southeastern North America by chemical and physical analyses and technical fabrication studies. Fabrics and either partially or completely mineralized pseudomorphs after fabric from the Tunacunnhee and Etowah sites in Georgia (dated respectively A.D. 150 95 years and about A.D. 1200) were examined. The work confirms the presence of at least two types of twined structures for the earlier Hopewell site and intricately constructed re-plied yarns and twined fabric for the later Mississippian one. The study of fabrics from both sites provides evidence of the kinds of materials produced and used by prehistoric peoples of the region during a 1000-year interlude. 

Fabrics used by the ABORIGINAL PEOPLE of southeastern North America have not been studied extensively. Small fragments of cordage, fabrics, and matting have been recorded from various prehistoric sites in the region (1-4), but analytical and synthesizing efforts have focused on matters other than the study of these pieces or the study of their cultural implications. Because fabrics are manufactured and used by people, their examination can reveal information about those who produced them. A first step, however, is the analysis of fabric as fabric. The purpose of this project is this first step to characterize selected examples of direct fabric evidence from the Tunacunnhee and Etowah sites in Georgia. 

Figure 1. Map of region containing Tunacunnhee and Etowah sites.

Etowah Site. Also in northwest Georgia is the Etowah Mound Site, located near Cartersville, Georgia, on a flood plain of the Etowah River (I). The site consists of three large flat-topped or temple mounds, numerous small mounds, a few habitation sites, and a moat or ditch that runs into the river. 

The use of color by prehistoric peoples was also addressed in Willoughby s discussion of textiles found at the Mississippian temple mound sites of Etowah, Georgia and Spiro, Oklahoma (colored textiles. Kuttruff proposed that the complexity of these textiles including the colored patterning and design motifs is indicative of sophisticated artisanship and status differences that were expressed through clothing (73), but her study did not involve the identification of colorant types. Saltzman (14) identified madder as the dye plant that had been used to color some of the Spiro textiles. 

While some of the Mississippian textiles are of similar structure to the Middle Woodland textiles, others are very complex materials and are lace-like in appearance. Many of the materials from Etowah are preserved by mineralization, and display green-colored deposits on their surfaces. Bast fiber, rabbit hair, and feathers have been identified (2, 11). The textiles from these two sites selected for analysis are representative of the complexity of structure and fineness of yarns seen in the materials they provide evidence of the sophisticated technology of prehistoric people in all phases of fiber collection, processing, yarn spinning, fabric manufacture and, when present, coloration. 

Although both sites are in the same geographic area (Figure 1), they differ greatly in age and cultural expression. The Tunacunnhee site, dated A.D. 150 95 years, represents the Hopewell tradition (I), whereas Etowah, in use between A.D. 900 and A.D. 1400, is considered to be of the Middle Mississippian period (7). Taken together, the two sites and their fabrics provide evidence of the kinds of materials produced and used by certain prehistoric people of the region. Both sites are expressions of major cultural traditions in southeastern North America, and both contain direct fabric evidence. These facts underscore the importance of... 

Fabric Structural Evidence. For the most part the direct fabric evidence examined from the two sites consists of fibers and yams within fabric structures rather than in matting or cordage. Two exceptions are the re-plied yam occurring on the Etowah copper plate and the cords wrapped around the earspool shafts from F-30. Although the re-plied... 

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. 

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