Textile and Basketry Impressions from Icehouse Bottom, Tennessee

Abstract

Abstract Analysis of a series of negative impressions in fired clay recovered during the 1975 excavations at Icehouse Bottom (40MR23), Tennessee, indicates the production and/or use of both single element textiles and basketry at that site. One type of single element textile, knotted looping, is represented by a single specimen while one of the three major subclasses of basketry is also present. The latter includes 19 samples of a single structural type of twining. The technical characteristics of this, the oldest well dated "perishable" assemblage from east of the Mississippi River, are discussed and the assemblage is briefly compared to others in eastern and western North America.