thanks dody! Archiologist have found silk fibers in eygptian tombs! silk was very popular!
Cotton too, was an imported fabric, it was grown in eygpt, but it was also first cultivated in China. It was grown in other countries,as well, and it was one the few plants that was domesticated both in old world and new world..
but it never made it to North america till europeans settle here.. the spanish brought it from south america to north america... Cotton doesn't grow in the area near equator, (it need some change of day/night times to set flower, not much but to close to equator, and it loses track) and there were not the same established trade routes from North America to South America as there were from Europe to China.. (read Gun, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond for a detailed answer of why that occured)
In North america, there were almost no domestic crops or animals for fibers..
in different places, different plants were used, but nothing as wide spread as sheep (for wool), or flax (linen) or cotton...
Pacific Northwest indians had a dog that was bred for its soft underbelly fur, that was collected and spun.. and there were many types of bark cloth.. but most american indians wore leather.
Hopi indians used the wool from sheep they had captured (they did not have a domesticated one) to make wool blankets.. and once domestic sheep were introduced, they became sheepherders.. but they had been semi nomdic, herders of wild sheep.
both new world and old had very similiar spindles and looms.
OP
