Textile Fibers used in Eastern Aboriginal North America

The study identifies plant fibers used in artifacts from Indigenous communities east of the Mississippi by examining museum ethnological and archaeological collections. Approximately five hundred objects were sampled and analyzed with standard histological microscopy, bleaching, maceration, staining, and measurements compared to classified botanical specimens. Identifications document monocot and dicot sources — including palmetto, Spanish moss, yucca, nolina, red cedar, grasses such as big bluestem, sweet grass, canebrake, cattail, and occasional maize — and relate these materials to bags, moccasins, mats, ropes, and mound finds. The paper supplies object-level determinations, a table of identifications, and a brief summary of results.