Precolumbian Textile Tools and Technologies: Case Studies from North America and Mesoamerica

While the importance of textiles and the techniques of pre-Columbian textile production have been well documented in the Andes, far less research has been conducted on textile tools and technologies in North America and Mesoamerica. With only a few specific exceptions, the climates of these regions are not conducive to preservation, and textiles themselves are therefore only rarely preserved. Several other sources of relatively untapped evidence on textile production exist, however, in other archaeologically recovered material culture such as implements used for creating textiles, including spindle whorls, net gauges, needles, and weaving awls; objects used with or associated with textiles, such as fishing net weights and floats; and even raw materials such as cultivated or collected fibers and pigments. This session explores how analysis of these artifacts carries great potential for insights into textile techniques and technologies, as well as into the practical and symbolic use of textiles in these societies.