The interesting specimen illustrated in figure 22 was obtained from a small fragment of pottery found in Ripley county, Missouri. The combination of the two series of strands clearly indicates the type of fabric, the twisted cords of the woof being placed very far apart. The warp is of braid formed by plaiting strands of untwisted fiber, probably bast. All the details are shown in the most satisfactory manner in the clay cast.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Twined fabric from ancient pottery, Carter county, Tennessee.]
In figure 23 we have a similar fabric closely woven or impacted. I have made the drawing to show fillets of fiber appearing at the ends; these do not appear in the impression. It is highly probable, however, that these fillets are plaited bands, as in the preceding example. They are wide and flat, giving somewhat the effect of basket-work of splints or rushes.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Twined fabric from ancient pottery, Tennessee.]
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Twined fabric from ancient pottery, Tennessee.]
Another variety of the twined fabrics, distinguished by peculiarities in the combinations of the threads, is illustrated in figures 24 and 25. The threads of the warp are arranged in pairs as in the specimens already described, but are twisted in such a way as to inclose two of the opposing series instead of one, each succeeding pair of warp threads taking up alternate pairs of the woof threads. Figure 25 is from a small piece of pottery exhumed from a mound on Fain island, Jefferson county, Tennessee. The threads of the woof are quite close together, those of the web being far apart.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--Twined fabric, with patterns, Ohio valley.]
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--Net from ancient pottery, District of Columbia.]
That the native love of decoration had a marked influence on the weavers' art in its simplest and rudest as well as higher forms is well evinced even in the meager vestiges brought to light by researches in the mounds. Decorative borders and fanciful combinations of strands are shown in some of the preceding cuts, and figure 26, copied from a pottery fragment obtained in the Ohio valley, indicates a more ambitious attempt at embellishment. The fabric was evidently of ornate design and the execution excellent.