Textile arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas

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] As previously mentioned, fragments of rope and textiles dating back between 12,100 and 11,080 years ago have been unearthed from Guitarrero Cave in Peru.

[3] Because of the extremely dry conditions of the desert sands, twined textiles from the Norte Chico civilization in Peru have survived, dating back to 2500-1800 BCE.

[5] Cotton and wool from alpaca, llamas, and vicuñas have been woven into elaborate textiles for thousands of years in the Andes and are still important parts of Quechua and Aymara culture today.

Thick garments made from awaska were worn as standard amongst the lower classes of the Andean highlands, while lighter cotton clothing was produced on the warmer coastal lowlands.

[8] Guna tribal members of Panama and Colombia are famous for their molas, cotton panels with elaborate geometric designs created by a reverse appliqué technique.

[9] Maya women have woven cotton with backstrap looms for centuries, creating items such as huipils or traditional blouses.

20th century Navajo weavers include Clara Sherman and Hosteen Klah, who co-founded the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian.

Valencia, Joseph and Ramona Sakiestewa (Hopi)[12] and Melissa Cody (Navajo) explore non-representational abstraction and use experimental materials in their weaving.

In both techniques, dog, mountain goat, or sheep wool and shredded cedar bark are combined to create textiles featuring curvilinear formline designs.

[15] Mapuche women engaged in the practice of weaving textiles and ponchos by using the wool of llamas and alpacas before replacing them with sheep after the Spanish colonists introduced them.