What was nettle cloth?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
June 10, 2003
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading – Plus Camping & Survival Technology—>Click here.
For
one who has closely encountered the living plant, it is a singularly unforgettable
experience. The plant is the greater stinging nettle (Urtica dioica
Linnaeus). Stinging nettle is a perennial native to the Northern Hemisphere.
Despite the stinging trichomes, the plants were used for millennia.
Nettles
produce bast fibers to support their long stems. Like flax fibers, nettle
fibers are extracted by retting, the process of soaking the stems in water
and allowing bacteria to digest the unwanted stem tissues. Unlike annual
species, flax or cotton, nettle can be harvested for several years before
replanting is needed. Nettle
grows fast enough that it can even be harvested more than once a year. ("Nettle,
Stinging", Interactive European Network for Industrial Crops and their Applications,
2002) During the late 1700s and early 1800s in North
America, nettle was often used by settlers for thread, cordage, and cloth.
Settlers took only those items they could not manufacture themselves, items
had to be transported on their backs, on horseback, or by canoe. Additional
clothing, fabrics, twine, and ropes were made as needed from available natural
sources.
According to Tina Hursh and Linda Boorom,
the rich soil of the river bottomlands supported large populations of wild
nettles. Weather provided the retting. "The nettle, five to seven feet high,
falling to the earth, would rot...during the winter and in the spring [the
remaining fibers] would be gathered and prepared for the spinning-wheel and
the loom." (The History of Hamilton County Ohio, Hursh and Boorom, 2002-2003)
Many
of the settlers may have been familiar with nettle cloth; it was a common
fabric in Scotland and the Scandinavian countries. Native Americans also
used the nettles for twine, fishing lines and nets, and other items. Perhaps,
nettle cloth was the very first cloth made by humans. Dr. Olga Soffer, Dr.
James M. Adovasio, and Dr. David C. Hyland have re-examined various artifacts
and found evidence of textiles, probably from nettle fibers, among Paleolithic
peoples. ("Furs for Evening, but Cloth was the Stone Age Standby", Natalie Angier, NYTimes, Dec. 14, 1999)
The
Flora of Northern Ireland, Ulster Museum has photographs of nettle taken
by Paul Hackney. The stinging trichomes appear as a white fuzziness on the
plant. To view the photographs, click on the link:
http://www.habitas.org.uk/flora/photo.asp?item=3807
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading:
What was nettle cloth? Plants that Changed History - June 10, 2003
Nettle in, Dock out Weird Plants - June 12, 2003
Why were hops added to beer? Weird Plants - December 12, 2002
What herbs prevented evil on Midsummer's Eve? Herbal Folklore - June 24, 2002
How did flax preserve history? Plants that Changed History - April 29, 2003
What is lint? What's in a Name? - April 25, 2003
What does flax need to create fine fibers? Weird Plants - April 24, 2003
How did flax revolutionize clothing? Plants that Changed History - April 22, 2003
Camping Technology
The History Channel®
The
earliest CAMPING TECHNOLOGY—if it could fairly be called that—was developed
out of necessity. Prehistoric men fashioned crude bags and rudimentary clothes
from bark and hide; pioneers pushed West in covered wagons, cooking over
open fires and living off the land. But, as MODERN MARVELSTM details,
war encouraged the development of lighter and better materials, and the advances
made in times of conflict were later refined and adapted for peacetime use.
Here, we'll see how canvas gave way to nylon, iron to fiberglass, and rubber
to synthetics like Gore-Tex®. Trace the development of the most important
pieces of camping equipment, and get an up-close look at the incredible gear
that is used by modern mountaineers, incorporating technological advances
that pioneers like Edmund Hillary would scarcely recognize. [Price and more info...]
|
BACK TO TOP
