Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Cordage and yarn are typically the earliest fiber technologies to develop in ancient societies, and this development tends to quickly lead to a plethora of further technologies, forming the basis of most constructed interworked fibrous elements, such as basketry, sandals, and twined textiles, and then the vast majority of woven fabrics. Nevertheless, cordage and yarn have also continued to exist and function independently of textiles in a wide variety of roles, including rope and string for wrapping and binding, rigging, nets, torques, belts, and quipus; composite weapons, from slings and harpoons to the crossbow, also rely on cordage. In contexts where textiles no longer survive, the presence of cordage and yarn technology is revealed by the presence of tools, including different types of spindles and whorls, rope spinners, and netting gauges, and by the presence of other associated paraphernalia, including suspended objects, net weights, cleats, and moorings. This symposium explores the enduring presence, function, and meaning of cordage, yarn, and associated tools and paraphernalia in ancient through contemporary societies worldwide.

Other Keywords
Textile Analysis • Material Culture and Technology • Craft Production • Cordage • Experimental Archaeology • Neolithic • Ideology • Textiles • Collections • Paleoethnobotany

Geographic Keywords
North America (Continent) • United States of America (Country) • USA (Country) • Republic of Panama (Country) • Republic of Colombia (Country) • Netherlands Antilles (Country) • Aruba (Country) • Republic of Ecuador (Country) • South America (Continent) • Arizona (State / Territory)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-10 of 10)

  • Documents (10)
Documents
  • The Body, the Regalia, the Weapons, and the Mortuary Bundle: Forms, Materials, and Uses of Cordage at the Paracas Site (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ann Peters.

    This is an abstract from the "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In study of Andean archaeological textiles, a focus on decorative “high status” objects too often produces a distorted vision of ancient textile traditions, obscuring the textile forms most commonly found in an excavated assemblage. Ethnoarchaeological study by Cases (2020) has begun to address this problem by looking at production contexts in...

  • Fiber Plants of the Northern Great Basin: New Radiocarbon Dates and Plant Identifications for Textiles from Paisley Caves, Oregon (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Elizabeth Kallenbach.

    This is an abstract from the "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Early foraging communities in the Northern Great Basin engaged with a diverse and changing landscape over millennia. Archaeologists have developed settlement-subsistence models in relation to climatic shifts based on tool assemblages, dietary studies, and other datasets. In the current study, textiles from Paisley Caves are examined within the...

  • Function Follows Form, Part II: Experimental Archaeology with Formative Period Mesoamerican Greenstone Tagelus Shell Facsimiles as Textile Tools (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Billie Follensbee.

    This is an abstract from the "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Many Formative period Mesoamerican greenstone artifacts are readily identifiable as ornaments, as they have clear counterparts in both form and function in later cultures. Other such artifacts, however, have proven puzzling to scholars, who initially categorized them as “miscellaneous objects,” “objects of unknown use,” or “implements for...

  • Functional Riddles, Chipped Stone Technologies, and Fiber Processing in the Late Sixth and Fifth Millennium BCE in Turkmenistan and Northwestern Europe (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Melody Pope.

    This is an abstract from the "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Use-wear and residue analysis draws attention to complexities of technological processes that otherwise remain out of reach archaeologically. Enigmatic wear traces described by microwear analysts as “polish 23,” “polish 10,” and “polis non familiar” occur on distinctive chipped stone tools from Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites in...

  • Household Cordage in the Ancient Ozette Longhouses, a Mudslide-Covered Village on Northwest Coast of North America (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Dale Croes.

    This is an abstract from the "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Rarely can you characterize all the cordage and knots in use within an ancient household. At Ozette Village, three centuries ago, a large mudslide flattened, covered, and preserved large cedar plank long-houses. Thousands of cordage and wood/fiber artifacts were preserved and recovered in situ, in use and stored by the ancient extended...

  • Making Khipu Cords (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jeffrey Splitstoser. Jon Clindaniel.

    This is an abstract from the "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While Andean khipus—indigenous knot-and-cord recording devices—have been extensively studied over the past hundred years in their final, completed form, relatively little attention has been paid to the process by which they were made. As such, the level of agency that khipu makers, called khipukamayuqs, had in producing khipus is not fully...

  • Plant Fiber and Foraging Tools in the Eastern Great Basin (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Anne Lawlor.

    This is an abstract from the "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Analysis of the plant fiber from eastern Great Basin sites show a pattern of continuity in their selection and use over time, suggesting they were regularly preferred for specific tools. Archaeologists currently have no quantitative explanation of what may have influenced forager fiber choices. Explaining why a forager has chosen a particular...

  • Twisting through Time: Fremont Cordage and Modern Attempts at Replication (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Tim Riley.

    This is an abstract from the "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Cordage was vital in the daily life of Fremont farmers across the Colorado Plateau. Yet, this humble technology rarely receives the full attention of textile specialists, focused on the intricate half-rod and bundle coiled parching trays, yucca sandals, and other more impressive aspects of the perishable fiber record. This talk examines a...

  • Weaving Ancestors into Everyday Objects: Basketmaker II Use of Human Hair (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Phil Geib. Laurie Webster.

    This is an abstract from the "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pre-pottery farmers on the Colorado Plateau of the North American Southwest known as Basketmakers fabricated various artifacts using human hair cordage. The textiles made of this material ranged from intimate personal adornments to utilitarian rabbit nets and load-bearing tumplines. Aside from important functional properties of elasticity and...

  • Weaving the Cosmic House: Chibchan Myth and Nicaraguan Spindle Whorls (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sharisse McCafferty. Geoffrey McCafferty.

    This is an abstract from the "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In Bribri myth, the Creator God Sibó commanded Sál, the head of the spider clan, to weave cane and thatch to cover the cosmic house, which was built to encapsulate the world order. The house was supported by a central pole with eight surrounding posts representing each of the major clans. In 20+ years of archaeological research in Pacific...