Testing the feasibility of fiber identification for fine cordage artifacts from the Paisley Caves, Oregon

This study tests the feasibility of previously established fiber identification methods, including polarized light microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and their suitability for analysis of archaeological cordage from the Paisley Caves in Eastern Oregon. The methods were applied to herbarium reference samples for four key plants: Apocynum (dogbane), Urtica dioica (stinging nettle), Ascelpias (milkweed), and Linum lewisii (blue flax). These plants are known historically and archaeologically as the primary sources of fibers used in fine cordmaking throughout the Northern Great Basin. Results from the control study were then applied to samples from 180 fine cordage artifacts from the Paisley Caves. The Paisley Caves have one of the largest and most continuous assemblages of fine cordage made from plants, spanning the last 11,000 years. Results of fiber identification for archaeological cordage reveal continuous use of stinging nettle and dogbane throughout the Holocene, with flax and milkweed occurring within the last 3000 years. Fiber identification has broad application in archaeology, and informs research in landscape use, textile technology, the paleoenvironment, and a diachronic perspective of traditional ecological knowledge.