The Interpretation of Textile Production and Use by High and Low Status Caddoan Groups
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School of Human Ecology,
Baton Rouge,
Louisiana
ABSTRACT This paper demonstrates the application of technical studies of the fragmented remains of archaeological textiles to the reconstruction of past textile technologies and to the interpretation of the cultural phenomenon of status differentiation. The analyses of archaeological textile remains recovered from Caddoan burial contexts (Mississippian period) in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri provided information for the interpretation of differential production and use of textiles by high and low status groups within that prehistoric society of the southeastern United States. The research is based upon the characterization of specific textile attributes and burial context. The data sets utilized in the textile analyses include fabric structure, fabric scale, edge treatment, patterning, design, coloration, yarn structure, and fibers. Production complexity for each textile is assessed and then ranked using a recently developed textile production complexity index. Those specific textile attributes that appear to be most highly associated with status differences are identified using two different statistical procedures. Technological differences as well as textile utilization patterns between high and low groups are explored. INTRODUCTION Textile remains are not commonly recovered from prehistoric archaeological contexts in the southeastern United States, and those that are recovered are often very small and very fragile. An analysis of textiles from two of the largest sets of culturally related textile remains from the Southeast was undertaken to test the premise that technical and contextual analyses of textile remains can yield information about the social and behavioral systems that produced them. Archaeological textiles are best described in terms of their materials and their structure. The structure of a textile is an inherent characteristic and is preserved (1]. However, the original form and function of the textile as well as many of the specific processes used in its manufacture are often only inferred and may be in question without the support of other forms of evidence. Sibley and Jakes (2] proposed a theoretical framework and model for inferring cultural context from archaeological textile remains. The model incorporates two types of attribute analyses and burial site information to infer fabric function and associated human behavior. The two types of attribute analyses are technical fabrication studies, which describe the yarnfabric-decoration components of structure, and physico-chemical analyses, which seek to characterize the chemical composition of the materials used (e.g. fibers and dyes) as well as micro- and macro- physical structure by using a variety of new techniques and instrumentation. These two types of analyses are designed to record the essential characteristics of the textiles, i.e. attribute data. The research reported here utilizes textile attributes and burial context to demonstrate the cultural phenomenon of status differentiation (
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