de Laguna] ARCHEOLOGY, YAKUT AT BAY AREA, ALASKA. 191 



length is twined across the warps to form the upper hne of the rec- 

 tangle; these yarns, then, round the corner and, as the light wefts 

 of the basic twined background reach this vertical line of twining, 

 are twined around them (the wefts) to form the right side of the rec- 

 tangle. Simultaneously, the second half of the length of yams was 

 being t\vined over the hght basic wefts as these were met, and after 

 rounding the lower left corner, crossed the warps to complete the 

 lower side of the rectangle. At the lower left corner, the three yarns 

 of each half were braided for about 1% inches, knotted and permitted 

 to fall free as a tassel. The longest tassel yarns in place are 7 inches 

 long. The complexity of the meetings of the basic weft and deco- 

 rative yarn is increased by the fact that there are five concentric 

 rectangles and a single center line. All of the vertical Hues were 

 inserted during the weaving process. None of them is embroidered 

 as are many of the vertical lines in the stylized Chilkat blankets 

 (in which the overlaid three-strand yarns cannot be seen from the 

 reverse side of the fabric). The comphcations of the selvage to 

 selvage wefting of the light yarns with the addition of the design 

 elements during weaving is indeed a tribute to the skill of the weaver. 

 At one stage she manipulated the basic weft to the outer vertical 

 line; here these light-colored wefts act as warp to the dark-brown 

 decorative yarns; then they are light wefts again for two warp pairs; 

 then again they act as warp for the next concentric rectangle. At 

 10 places across each group of rectangles, the light wefts were re- 

 leased to be the passive element as the dark-brown yarns were lifted 

 to be twined around them. Each of these wefts moved through many 

 such rectangles to the opposite selvage, there to turn around the 

 end warp and begin the return in the opposite direction. None of the 

 rectangles is complete in the fragments preserved. However, two 

 fragments contain enough of the interior rectangles so that the length 

 (warpwise) of 2% inches and Avidth (weftwise) of 4% inches for the 

 outer lines can be considered accurate. As each of the concentric 

 rectangles ended in a self tassel, the blanket must have been well 

 fringed. 



Each of the three large fragments contains portions of three rec- 

 tangles, two of these on the same horizontal line and one on the next 

 vertical Hne above or below the others. The rectangles were ap- 

 parently distributed across the ^vidth of the blanket spaced 3 to 3% 

 inches apart (distortion of the blanket may account for some of this 

 discrepancy). Between the rows vertically (warpwise) the space 

 was apparently 3K inches. The rectangles were not staggered; the 

 top decorative lines of the rows of rectangles were inserted on the same 

 weft line, and the vertical lines inserted between the same warps. 



