NO. 2235. IWPl INDIAN COLLECTION— HOUGH. 267 



Museum (north alcove, first floor). A descriptive label for these 

 l)askets written by Prof. O. T. Mason is as follows : 



Made up on a coil of small rods oi splints of willow or Rhus aromatica. The 

 composition of the foundation coil characterizes basketry of this type as 

 ■" single-rod coil," " rod-and-spliut coil," " two vertical-rod coil," " three-rod 

 -coil," " two-rod-and-splint coil," " splint coil," and "straw coil." The coils are 

 held together by an over-and-over sewing with osier splints which pass around 

 one coil, under a small rod or splint of the imder coil, each stitch interlocking 

 -with the one underneath. The ornamentation of these baskets is produced by 

 substituting dyed or natural black splints and the figures are mostly geometric. 

 The borders are fastened on with the plain stitch of the coils, or with a row 

 ■of false braid effected by passing a single splint backward and forward under 

 the stitches of the last coil. 



They are smoothly and strongly made of well-prepared material, 

 decorated with archaic patterns, follow in the main the forms of 

 ancient pottery, and their appearance suggests great age. It is 

 probable that they are the work of some ancient Pueblo tribe now 

 extinct, and have been preserved among the Pueblos for hundreds of 

 jears. Mr. Gushing wrote that some of these baskets had been 

 recovered by the Zuni from prehistoric deposits. So far as known, 

 no specimen has been found by explorers of the cliff dwellings and 

 none occur in the remarkable basket finds in Grand Gulch, Utah, 

 described by Mr. George Pepper.^ Some of these interesting baskets 

 are figured by Professor Mason.- Baskets of the thick coil type are 

 made by the Pima and Indians of northern Mexico, usually for coarse 

 'Construction as in granaries and storage baskets. They are not 

 covered with sewing as in the Hopi examples. The Hopi variety 

 of coil basket has an ancient history in the Pueblo region, specimens 

 having been found in the Bear Creek ceremonial cave on Blue 

 River, Arizona.^ 



The tools used in basket making are simple, the awl being most 

 in evidence though needed mostly for coiled basket making. This 

 important tool, which serves for inany uses, is at present made from 

 the leg bone of the sheep, but was formerly made of deer bone. It is 

 brought to a fine smooth point on a whetstone and constant use in 

 sewing gives it an exquisite polish. A metal knife and of recent years 

 even scissors, form part of the basket maker's equipment; formerly 

 chips of flint or obsidian may have served. A polishing stone some- 

 times grooved may be used, though the rods may be smoothed by 

 drawing them over sand rock in place on the mesas. A wrench of 

 antelope or goat's horn (pi. 46, fig. 4), like those employed in 

 straightening arrow shafts, may be used for the larger rods, ancient 

 basketry owes its excellent craftmanship to this tool. 



1 Ancient Basketmakers of Southeastern Utah. Supplement to Journal American Mu- 

 seum Nat. Hist., N. Y., vol. 2, No. 4, April, 1902, 



2 Aboriginal American Basketry, Ann. Kept. U. S, Nat, Mus., 1902, pi. 28. 

 •Hough, 1902, Culture of the Ancient Pueblos, Bull. 87. U. S. Mat. Mus., 1914. pi. 24. 



