Human Hair and Dyed Fiber Artifacts

Day's Knob Site (33GU218)

 

Human Hair and Dyed Fiber Artifact from Day's Knob Archaeological Site

Human Hair and Dyed Fiber Artifact from Day's Knob Archaeological Site

Two hairs twisted together and bound with artificially colored plant fibers.  (Pretty good visual acuity and manual dexterity by today's standards.)

(The artificially dyed fibers were confirmed by Dr. Scott Moody, professor of forensic biology at Ohio University.)

 

Human Hair from Day's Knob Archaeological Site
Above:  One of the hairs at 100X magnification, showing the characteristically club-shaped human hair root.
Human Hair from Day's Knob Archaeological Site
The hair at 400X, showing the characteristic human (imbricate) scale pattern.
Human Hair from Day's Knob Archaeological Site

The other hair in the artifact at 1000X, also showing the human scale pattern.

Unfortunately, in the hairs from this site that have been tested so far, no mitochondrial DNA has survived .
 
Bear Figure - Artifact from Day's Knob Archaeological Site
The bear-like sandstone figure on which the hair/fiber artifact appeared embedded in the clay adhering to the rock.  Light blue and white fibers remain in the clay.

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