Prehistoric Textile Fabrics Of The United States, Derived From Impressions On

Holmes, William Henry, 1846-1933Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
50K words
Chapters
5

Tags

English Originals History and Culture Natural HistoryTextile CraftsmanshipArchaeological DiscoveryIllustrated GuideAcademic StudyPrehistoric CivilizationFolk CustomsMaterial CultureIndigenous PeoplesCross-Cultural View

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Prehistoric Textile Fabrics Of The United States, Derived From Impressions OnAuthor: Holmes, William Henry, 1846-1933,Language: English, Class: E011: History: America: America, Release Date: Dec 22, 2005

Editor's review

The subject of this book is unusual: not preserved fabrics but the impressions fabrics left on pottery and other surfaces. Using these indirect traces as clues, Holmes discusses the fibres, weaves and patterns of prehistoric American textiles, showing how archaeology infers technical details from extremely limited material evidence. Its value lies not in a complete picture but in modelling a cautious mode of argument: first describing the form of the impressions, then comparing possible weaving structures, and finally marking the limits of the evidence. The prose has the plain style of early archaeological reports, with a large proportion of illustrations and classificatory descriptions, so reading requires patience. Readers interested in textile history, archaeological method or Native American material culture will find here the research approach of "proving objects through traces"; general readers may find the detail dense and the conclusions restrained. Read it as a methodological sample rather than a general history, focusing on how the author organizes evidence and avoids overreach.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the introduction and conclusion first to grasp the author's questions and the limits of the evidence, then return to the detailed classifications.
  2. Follow the illustrations to understand the forms of the impressions, sketching possible weaving structures with pen and paper if needed.
  3. Break the argument into three columns—observation, comparison, inference—as notes to appreciate the mode of archaeological reasoning.
  4. If using it only for method, read closely the chapters on object types similar to your own research and skim the rest.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

FAQ

What exactly do the "impressions" in the title mean? They are the pressed traces prehistoric fabrics left on the surfaces of pottery or other objects. The fabrics themselves have long since decayed, but the traces preserve information about fibre direction, weave density and some patterns. The author analyses these indirect traces to try to reconstruct the textile techniques and craft features of the time.
Can I understand it without a background in archaeology? You can, but it takes patience. Much of the book consists of object descriptions and classificatory comparisons, with many terms and numbers, and the conclusions are relatively restrained. Read the introduction and conclusion first to grasp the overall approach, then browse the detailed descriptions as examples. If you are completely unfamiliar with the conventions of archaeological reports, the reading experience will be rather demanding.
Are the book's conclusions still reliable today? As an early study, its specific classifications and inferences need to be tested against later archaeological finds and textile technology research. Read it for its argumentative method and awareness of evidence rather than taking individual conclusions as settled. It is better suited as a text for understanding the history of research than as a summary of current findings.

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About the author

Holmes, William Henry, 1846-1933 Author

William Henry Holmes (1846–1933) was an American archaeologist and anthropologist, with nine works held in this collection. Public information is limited, so this introduction is based mainly on the subjects of the works in the collection. His writings focus on the material culture of ancient America, covering prehistoric textile art of the eastern United States, ancient pottery of the Mississippi Valley, the art of shell work among the ancient Americans, the ancient art of the province of Chiriqui in Colombia, and the pottery of the ancient Pueblos. These works center on artifact form, ornament, and craft technique, emphasizing typological comparison and visual documentation in the careful style of museum-based object study. Essays such as "Origin and Development of Form and Ornament in Ceramic Art" examine how decorative motifs arise from craft processes and remain useful to early American archaeology and art history.