Friday, October 1, 2021

"Wild Silk" in Central America

In describing material from cocoons gathered from the wild in Mexico, one researcher used the term "silk" to describe such fiber:

 

The cultivation of nopals (Nopalea cochenillifera) for raising cochineal and the keeping of stingless bees are practices now virtually abandoned. Wild silk used to be gathered by Zapotec women and woven into fabric which was sold with high profits. (Matthew Wallrath, "Excavations in the Tehuantepec Region, Mexico," Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series—Volume 57, Part 2, 1967, p. 12, emphasis added)