TWO FOSSILIZED LATE ARCHAIC TEXTILES FROM MAINE: PYRITE PSEUDOMORPHS FROM THE HARTFORD CEMETERY SITE

Recent examination of museum collections from Hartford's Cemetery, a Moorehead Burial Tradition site near Orland, Maine, resulted in the discovery of textile pseudomorphs incorporated into lumps of pyrite (FeS). Pyrite is frequently found in these artifact assemblages, interpreted as the spark-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archaeology of Eastern North America 1999-01, Vol.27, p.185-196
Main Authors: Blustain, Malinda S., Leveque, Margaret A., Robinson, Brian S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeological sites
Cemeteries
Cordage
Graves
Historical archaeology
Pyrites
Textile preservation
Textiles
Warps
Weft
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Summary:Recent examination of museum collections from Hartford's Cemetery, a Moorehead Burial Tradition site near Orland, Maine, resulted in the discovery of textile pseudomorphs incorporated into lumps of pyrite (FeS). Pyrite is frequently found in these artifact assemblages, interpreted as the spark-producing element in "fire-kits" interred as mortuary offerings. The composition of the textile pseudomorphs has been identified through FTIR microspectrometry to be a hydrated basic iron sulfide. Although pseudomorphs of textiles on copper, bronze and brass are comparatively well known, occurrences on iron and pyrite are less common. In these samples, the mineral replacement of the organic structure is remarkably exact, permitting identification of two distinct weaving structures on the pyrite masses. Dated to ca. 4300 B.P., these textiles are among the earliest described for the far Northeast.
ISSN:0360-1021