[Illustration: Fig. 23—Mound-builder Cloth.]
The Mound-builders wove serviceable cloth from the tough fibers of
plants and the inner bark of certain trees. The sample shown as “A”
resembles the homespun linen of the days of our pioneer grandmothers,
and in “B” a piece of the same sample is magnified to show the weave.
Cloth, as well as the skins of animals, was used for clothing by the
Mound-builders, and they probably knew how to weave thick blankets to
protect them from the cold in winter. There are many samples of
Mound-builder Cloth, as well as of woven bark matting, in the Ohio State
Museum. These show half a dozen or more different weaving patterns, of
which the weave shown in the above picture is but one. Copper implements
found in the mounds were very often wrapped in Cloth, which was
preserved throughout the centuries by the chemical action of the Copper.
Some of the prehistoric Indians also wove cloth, but none of them was as
skilled as the Mound-builders.