ART. E) EXCAVATION AND REPAIR OF BETATAKIN JUDD 63 



39, 4, 5, are of an unidentified species of apocynum and yucca, re- 

 spectively. A second hank of yucca cord is embedded in a bit of 

 adobe flooring, marked by the imprints of willow (312257). In ad- 

 dition, we have the usual number of scraps of feather-wrapped yucca 

 cord; a tasseled fragment, square braided, of eight 2-ply cotton 

 strands (3122Y2) ; several cord fragments made from human hair 

 (312275) ; a bit consisting of two strands of hair twined with one of 

 yucca fiber (312274) ; and several knotted scraps of twisted buffalo 

 hair (312281).^® Bundles of human hair, tied with yucca shreds and 

 perhaps intended for use in cord manufacture, or for weaving bags 

 and other fabrics, are also in the collection. 



Mats. — From the Betatakin cave debris came a small section of 

 cedar bark matting, bound with a simple over-and-under lacing of 

 yucca leaf shreds (312321) ; a similar fragment composed wholly 

 of yucca leaves (312409) and several pieces of a larger mat, twill 

 woven of rushes (312395). 



Cloth (pi. 39, 6-9) . — Bits of cotton fabrics, often patched and re- 

 patched, are present in nearly every cliff-dwelling rubbish heap. 

 Most of these rags show a plain checkerboard weave, although their 

 component threads may vary in size and compactness. Our rag 

 series includes four specimens of twilled work (312259), two of 

 which appear to be fragments of headbands, and a cotton tassel 

 whose cord, seven-sixteenths inch in diameter, consists of a core of 

 cloth strips inclosed by a covering in which three parallel strands 

 were braided as one. 



Our only example of twined textile is woven of human hair. A 

 single specimen of coiled work without foundation has what appears 

 to be buffalo hair twisted in with some species of apocynum fiber. ^'^ 



Sandals. — Two types of weaving, twilled and wickerwork, are rep- 

 resented in the 11 sandals or sandal fragments we collected at Beta- 

 takin. Of the formei", there are but two examples, both made from 

 narrow yucca leaves. (PL 40, 1, 3.) The larger is the finer and 

 more tightly woven; its component elements were plaited over-two 

 under-two until the edge was reached, when each strand was 

 tightened, drawn forward under-four, and reintroduced from the 

 lower side, thus creating a slightly thicker, rounded selvage. As the 

 weaving progressed from toe to heel, leaf ends were brought out on 

 the sole, there to be clipped and later frayed through wear into a 



M Kidder and Guernsey (1919, p. 118) note the finding of a scrap of buffalo hide, with 

 the hair still on, in their ruin 7 and point out the possibility of its having been brought 

 in by Navajos. Biologists have not yet included the Kayenta district in the known, 

 former range of the mountain buffalo. 



"A similar scrap (303262) in the Betatakin series obtained through exchange with the 

 University of Utah includes both cotton and apocynum strings in which is twisted 

 whitish mammal hair, as yet unidentified, that may be either deer or mountain sheep, 

 and also the brown hair of some undetermined animal. 



