THE ANCIENT BASKET MAKERS OF SOUTHEASTERN UTAH 



On the first or lower shelf of the Wetherill collection there is 

 a series of eight baskets that were probably used as food trays or 

 Food Trays mea ^ bowls. Some may have been used as gambling 

 or Meal trays with which to toss the bone and wooden dice, 

 Bowls. while others were, possibly, ceremonial objects that 

 were used only on special occasions. This series is composed of 

 specimens that are practically of the same form. They are made 

 of willow stalks and splints and are of the "three-rod founda- 

 tion" type, as illustrated and described by Professor Otis T. 

 Mason in the American Anthropologist, N. S., vol. 3, No. i, 

 p. 122. Since almost all of the baskets made by these people 

 are of this type, Mason's description of this particular form of 

 weave as given in the article cited may be quoted here. 



"Three-rod foundation This is the type of foundation called 

 by Dr. Hudson, bam tsu wu. Among the Porno and other 

 Mode of tribes in the western part of the United States the 

 Manufac- most delicate pieces of basketry are in this style. Dr. 

 ture. Hudson calls them the "jewels of coiled basketry." 



The surfaces are beautifully corrugated and patterns of the most 

 elaborate character can be wrought on them. The technic is as 

 follows : Three or four small, uniform willow stems serve for the 

 foundation. The sewing, which may be in splints of willow, 

 black or white carex root, or cercis stem, passes around the three 

 stems constituting the coil, under the upper one of the bundle 

 below, the stitches interlocking. In the California area the 

 materials for basketry are of the finest quality. The willow 

 stems and carex roots are susceptible of division into delicate 

 filaments. Sewing done with these is most compact, and when 

 the stitches are pressed closely together the foundation does 

 not appear." 



Accepting this description as covering the generalities of 

 manufacture, we may proceed to the examination of a few of 

 the individual peculiarities. Beginning with the second specimen 

 from the right of this part of the case we have a basket seventeen 

 inches in diameter, which is slightly concave. The stitch is the 

 ordinary "wrap stitch" with the exception of a space about an 

 inch and one-half from the end of the outer coil, where the 



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