Textile Impressions in California Archaeology: Analytical Considerations and Research Potential

ABSTRACT

In the absence of exceptional organic preservation, data on ancient textile industries can be recovered from intentional and accidental negative impressions of woven products left in media that are plastic or pliable initially, but which harden later. However, detailed studies of such textile impressions remain uncommon across the western United States. In California, where surviving plant-based organic artifacts are generally quite rare, impressions in asphaltum (bitumen) provide a means of acquiring data on textile crafts that are increasingly recognized for their potential to contribute to anthropological research questions. Here we review analytical considerations attendant to impressions analysis and explore the underappreciated research potential of textile impressions. Drawing on recent results from the detailed analysis of assemblages of textile impressions in asphaltum from two sites in California, we offer methodological suggestions and review the salient interpretive inferences from these studies that stand to enhance the research potential of similar assemblages.

RESUMEN

Los datos sobre industrias textiles antiguas se pueden recuperar a partir de impresiones negativas, intencionales y accidentales de productos tejidos que se dejan en medios que inicialmente son plásticos o flexibles, pero que luego se endurecen. Embargo, estudio detallado de tales impresiones textiles sigue siendo poco común en el oeste de los Estados Unidos. En California, donde los artefactos orgánicos sobrevivientes son generalmente bastante raros, las impresiones en asfalto (betún) brindan un medio alternativo y complementario para adquirir datos sobre artesanías textiles que son cada vez más reconocidas por su potencial para contribuir a las preguntas de investigación antropológica. Basándonos en los resultados recientes del análisis detallado de ensamblajes de impresiones textiles en asfalto de dos sitios en California, ofrecemos sugerencias metodológicas y revisamos las inferencias interpretativas más destacadas de estos estudios que pueden mejorar el potencial de investigación de ensamblajes similares.

KEYWORDS:

• Textiles
• basketry
• water bottle
• impressions
• asphaltum
• bitumen
• perishables
• preservation

Acknowledgements

This article reflects a revision and expansion of Jolie’s (2020) unpublished agency report, and constructive comments provided by three anonymous reviewers and the editors have improved the quality of this contribution. We are grateful to the late Fred Segobia for his input and support, and the Salinan Tribe of Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties for permitting documentation of the funerary objects. Jolie's research on the Cache Cave material has been made possible by the Tejon Indian Tribe; the Barbareño/Ventureño Band of Mission Indians; Drs. David W. Robinson, Julienne Bernard, and John R. Johnson; and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, with generous support from funding provided by the University of Central Lancashire and the Institute for Field Research. Additional thanks go to Judith K. Polanich, Gloria Howat Brown, Jan Timbrook, Will G. Russell, and Kurt Haas for assistance at various stages in this research, as well as to the late Charles Rozaire for his contributions to the literature on late Holocene cordage and twining industries from California's Channel Islands. David Hurst Thomas and Anibal Rodriguez made possible Jolie's examination of the water bottle at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, while Stephen Horne initiated the Mohr basket analysis that piqued Jolie's interest years ago.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

All data used in this article are available within the article or published in the cited works.

Notes

1 Apparent structural similarities (i.e., twining using tule and employing cordage warps) observed between southern California asphaltum-coated water bottles and so-called “Catlow Twine” twined weaving (Camp 2017; 2018; Connolly et al. 2016) from the ancient western and northern Great Basin are superficial and undercut by the absence of any water bottles manufactured via the Catlow Twine technique, as well as wider appreciation of just how ubiquitous Schoenoplectus (and related genera) cordage warps/wefts are in semi-flexible basket and bag or mat-based technologies in Indigenous North American weaving traditions.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was provided by First Solar Electric Corporation as part of its compliance obligations for the California Flats Solar Project under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and California Environmental Quality Act.