Textile arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The textile arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas are decorative, utilitarian, ceremonial, or conceptual artworks made from plant, animal, or synthetic fibers by Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Textile arts and fiber arts include fabric that is flexible woven material, as well as felt, bark cloth, knitting, embroidery,^[1] featherwork, skin-sewing, beadwork, and similar media. Textile arts are one of the earliest known industries.^[1] Basketry is associated with textile arts.^[2]

While humans have created textiles since the dawn of culture, many are fragile and disintegrate rapidly. Ancient textiles are preserved only by special environmental conditions. The oldest known textiles in the Americas are some early fiberwork found in Guitarrero Cave, Peru dating back to 10,100 to 9,080 BCE.^[3]

The oldest known textiles in North America are twine and plain weave fabrics preserved in a peat pond at the Windover Archaeological Site in Florida, the earliest dating to 6,000 BCE.^[4]

^ ^a ^b Gibbs 1
^ Gibbs 6
^ Stacey, Kevin. "Carbon dating identifies South America's oldest textiles." University of Chicago Press Journals. 13 April 2013.
^ Spike, Tamara (July 2003). "Review of Doran, Glen H., ed., Windover: Multidisciplinary Investigations of an Early Archaic Florida Cemetery". Humanities and Social Sciences Online. Retrieved 11 January 2012.

[g1-1] Gibbs 1

[2] Gibbs 6

[carbon-3] Stacey, Kevin. "Carbon dating identifies South America's oldest textiles." University of Chicago Press Journals. 13 April 2013.

[4] Spike, Tamara (July 2003). "Review of Doran, Glen H., ed., Windover: Multidisciplinary Investigations of an Early Archaic Florida Cemetery". Humanities and Social Sciences Online. Retrieved 11 January 2012.

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