This introduced plant, hemp (Cannabis sativa, L.), was found in four specimens, evidently made in post-Columbian times as the plant is not indigenous to the Western Hemisphere, but was introduced by the colonists at a very early date. It was found in a bag (MPM 28116) made by the Wisconsin Potawatomi Indians. A bowstring on an Algonkin bow (AMNH 50.2-4221A) is made from this fiber as are also portions of an Oneida burden strap (AMNH 50.1-1800).
DAPHNACEAE (Mezereon Family)
This moose or leatherwood fiber (Dirca palustris, L.) was encountered eleven times in as widely separated states as Arkansas and Wisconsin. It was used both in the raw state, as strips twisted into cord, and as treated fiber in finer cords and threads. A prehistoric mat made by the inhabitants of Bushwick Cave, Arkansas, is composed of this material (MAIHF 19-4635). Cloth of the Adena culture made, in part, from this bast fiber (1200) is in the Ohio State Historical and Archaeological Museum. In the Milwaukee Public Museum is a Wisconsin Potawatomi bag (23447) in which the weft is nicely prepared fiber from this plant. In the collections of this Museum is a Winnebago bag (50-784D) woven with two kinds of cord; light colored cord of Dirca palustris and dark colored cord of Tilia americana.
JUGLANDACEAE, Lindl. (Walnut Family)
The bast from the black walnut (Juglans nigra, L.) was encountered twice in burden straps from the Iroquois (Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation). These fibers had apparently been previously treated, both chemically and mechanically. They were probably boiled in ashes, pounded, and then straightened so as to make them usable in twisting cord and thread. One such specimen in the above Museum carries the catalogue number 16-5208.
LINACEAE, Dumort. (Flax Family)
Common flax (Linum usitatissimum, L.) is another example of introduced fibers used by the Indians in post-Columbian times. The fiber was probably secured in trade. It was found in five specimens made by the Winnebago, Potawatomi, Michigan, Ottawa, and Delaware Indians. In the Milwaukee Public Museum is a bag (14619), made by the Winnebago and composed entirely of flax cords. In a Delaware burden strap (50-7191) in this Museum the fine cords are linen, but the coarse cords are milkweed, Asclepias syriaca. In the Archaeological Museum of McGill University is a wampum belt (M5932), the beads of which are strung on a commercial linen thread.
MALVACEAE, Neck. (Mallow Family)
As was to be expected, cotton (Gossypium herbaceum, L.) became the most commonly and universally used of any of the fibers after it was introduced east of the Mississippi River. No specimen was encountered in the prehistoric material, but after its introduction and sale by traders it was the most commonly used fiber. It does not seem advisable to discuss these uses in detail, suffice it to say that it served all purposes for which string and thread are utilized.