UA Professor Conducts Textile Research on Native American Artifacts

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Virginia Wimberley, assistant professor of clothing, textiles and interior design in The University of Alabama College of Human Environmental Sciences, has analyzed textiles from Native American burial grounds and recently presented her research at the Midwest Archaeological Conference in Virginia.

Wimberley presented results from research conducted on aged textiles found at Hopewell Indian Burial Grounds in Ohio at the Hopewell Indian mounds and earthworks sites.

Wimberley worked as a part of an inter-institution research team comprised of several metallurgists, a paleo-botanist, an artist who worked on copper, and Wimberley as a textile analyst. The team, headed by archaeologist Dr. Christopher Carr from the University of Arizona, researched and analyzed the artifacts found at the burial grounds and at earthworks sites.

Wimberley began her initial research analyzing copper plates found in mounds along the rivers of southwest Ohio during the summer of 1997. She studied the artifacts, which date back to 200 B.C. and 200 A.D. to see which ones contained textiles.

During her research, Wimberly used a microscope to complete a non-destructive analysis of the textiles found on the plates.

“I have spent many hours looking at fibers through a microscope,” Wimberley said. “I look to see if I can identify the fabric structure and I study the weave or twine structure.”

“You have to put the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle,” Wimberley said. “The textiles that were found on the plates were very sophisticated and they were of the high thread count and two ply. There was also evidence of color being used in some of the fibers.”

The report was finished during the 2001-2002 academic year. Wimberley has since presented her findings at the SAA conference in New Orleans in April 2001 and again in New York at the Museum Conference this April. The research in its final phase was delivered in a plenary session on recent research using the Ohio Historical Society collections this October at the Midwest Archaeological Conference in Columbus, Va.

Wimberley reported that she found unusual attributes of yarn elements within the twined structures that occur repeatedly on artifacts from the same site. The mixture of yarn features may indicate multiple spinners supplying one textile creator with necessary volume of yarns to create high thread count textiles more rapidly for ceremonial purposes.

“Findings are important for they provide clues as to the production since the yarns employed in the textiles have thick and thin yarns plied together, which is unusual and also the amount of twist per inch is so much tighter on some 2-ply yarns than on others,” she said.

“Usually the twist would be consistent through the fabric if the same person was spinning the yarn for the fabric and there was no variation of fiber content. This may point to multiple spinners providing yarn to produce ceremonial fabrics that were needed in large quantities and quickly.”

Pictures of these artifacts can be seen on the third floor of the Mary Harmon Bryant building at the University.

Wimberley has been a member of the UA faculty since 1992. She teaches the history of costume and textile design, apparel design by draping and advanced apparel design.

The UA College of Human Environmental Sciences was established in 1917. The College is well known for its comprehensive approach to higher education. Students seeking degrees in professional service industries are well served by its academic programs, classroom instruction, real-world experience, and mentoring by seasoned faculty.

The College offers degree programs for careers in apparel and textiles, athletic training, consumer sciences, early childhood development, financial planning and counseling, food and nutrition, family and consumer science education, health studies, human development and family studies, and interior design.