piece of
matting restored from the impression on a small piece of pottery
collected in Alabama. It was probably made of rushes or heavy blades of
grass.

[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Diagonal fabric, ancient pottery of Tennessee.]

Twined weaving prevails in the fabrics impressed on pottery as in those
from all other aboriginal sources. An example of the simplest form,
obtained from a small fragment of pottery found in Polk county,
Tennessee, is shown in figure 16. Two series of threads are interwoven
at right angles, the warp being arranged in pairs and the woof singly.

[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Fabric from the ancient pottery of Alabama.]

At each intersection the pairs of warp threads are twisted half around
upon themselves, inclosing the woof threads and holding them quite
firmly, so that the open net-like effect is well preserved even under
strain or in long continued use. There are many varieties of this form
of fabric resulting from differences in size and spacing of the threads.
These differences are well brought out in the succeeding figures.

[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Twined fabric from ancient pottery, Tennessee.]

[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Twined fabric from ancient pottery, Tennessee.]

In figure 17 we have a characteristic example of this fabric, obtained
from a fragment of pottery from a mound at Sevierville, Tennessee.

[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY THIRTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VIII
COPPER CELTS WITH REMNANTS OF CLOTH.]

The impression is quite perfect. The cords are somewhat uneven, and seem
to have been only moderately well twisted. They were probably made of
hemp fiber. It will be observed that the threads of the web are placed
at regular intervals, while those of the woof are irregularly placed. It
may be noticed that in one case the woof has not been doubled, the
single thread having, as a consequence, exactly the same relation to the
opposing series as corresponding threads in simple interlacing. The
impression, of which this is only a part, indicates that the cloth used
in shaping the vessel was considerably distorted when applied to the
soft clay.

[Illustration: FIG. 18.--Twined fabric from ancient salt vessel,
Illinois.]

[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Twined fabric from ancient salt vessel,
Illinois.]

Nowhere else are found so many fine impressions of fabrics on clay
vessels as in the ancient salt-making localities of the Mississippi
valley. The huge bowls or vats used by the primitiv