32 



SMITHSONIAN MlSCELLANliOUS CULLECTIONS Vul,. 8/ 



All four specimens are in close coiling. Two are rather deep, round 

 bowls, one a burden basket of an unusual shape — in profile the basket 

 shows deeply concaved walls and widely flaring mouth ; a cross-section 

 would be ovaloid — and the fourth is a unique specimen of coiling in 

 that it is shovel-shaped (fig. 19/')- While it is probable that the bur- 

 den basket had a design, in their present condition no designs could be 

 made out on the first three of the above. In the shovel-shaped basket 

 a radial design appears, sewn in dark red bark (almost a black). 



In all technical traits, the four baskets are Basket Maker type, con- 

 sistently on two-rod-and-bundlc foundation (fig. 2) ; the stitch texture 

 is coarse. The first three specimens are sewn with wood sewing 

 thread, the usual Basket Maker type sewing thread, while in the 

 shovel-shaped basket, a yucca sewing thread was used. 



Fig. 19. — Shovel-shaped coiled basket from site near Las Cruces, N. Mex. 

 a. Shows the insertion of several sets of partial circuits to produce a form 

 narrow in the middle, with walls built up at the two ends. b. Profile view. 



The shovel-shaped basket, being an unusual shape for coiling, shows 

 a special way of using the coiling technique. In addition to the usual 

 continuous circuit, partial circuits of coiling are introduced at interA^als 

 as illustrated (fig. 19). 



WEST OF SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS 



From a cave on the west side of the Sacramento Mountains I have 

 seen a fragment of coiled basketry.' This is in the typical Basket 

 Maker technique of coiling on a two-rod-and-l)undle-triangular foun- 

 dation with noninterlocking stitches. The texture runs 5 coils, 10 

 stitches per inch. The fragment is too small to determine work sur- 

 face or possible shape. 



with the Yale Expedition of 1929. The site is further identified as Dona Ana 

 County, in the southwestern portion of New Mexico, close to the east bank 

 of the Rio Grande, about 25 miles north of the Texas State line. The shovel- 

 shaped basket is U.S.N.M. No. 345916. 



' Found by E. B. Howard of the University Museum, Philadelphia. 



