THE ANCIENT BASKET MAKERS OF SOUTHEASTERN UTAH 



Some were storage baskets in which seeds were kept, perhaps 

 for the next season's planting. One of them contains pinon gum, 

 which was their paste and glue. With this gum they mended 

 their broken vessels and made their baskets water-tight, as may 

 be seen by the olla-bottomed basket represented in the plate. 

 This little water bottle is filled with pumpkin seeds and the 

 covering of gum has rendered it water-tight. 



Another form of basket that may be considered under this 

 class is shown on page 25. It is more like a yucca bag than a 

 basket, and yet it is made in the same way as are the other yucca 

 productions. It is really a small storage basket and it is here 

 shown filled with shelled corn while about it are scattered ears of 

 corn. This basket and corn were found in a pot-hole in a cave 

 and were no doubt cached in this place for future use. Near 

 the basket just described and leaning against the back of the case 

 Mortar is a specimen that is evidently a mortar basket. It is 

 Basket. thirteen inches in diameter and three and one-half 

 inches deep. The interior is coated with meal and the surface 

 of the coils is worn as though from blows of a pestle or grinder. 

 The home of the mortar basket is in California and, should future 

 investigations show that this form of basket was used by the 

 ancient people of Utah, it will mark the eastern limit of the type, 

 so far as known. 



Much more might be said concerning these interesting objects. 

 Those that have been noted are worthy of a detailed description and 

 there are more than fifty others in this case that must be passed with- 

 out even mention. The collection as a unit may be studied with 

 the help of this introduction, which will prepare the student for 

 more specific information regarding the arts of the Basket Makers. 



Note. — The various types of baskets mentioned in this description of the 

 remains of the pre-historic inhabitants of south-eastern Utah are also to be seen 

 in the basketry of the Indian tribes now inhabiting California and other parts 

 of the western United States, examples of which are on exhibition in the West 

 hall, ground floor; and in that of the natives of British Columbia, Alaska and 

 the Aleutian islands, as exhibited in the North hall, ground floor. Inasmuch 

 as the same design expresses different ideas when used by different tribes, it is 

 well for the reader to bear in mind the point made clear in the text by the 

 author of this Leaflet, that the interpretation offered here for the designs on 

 the pre-historic baskets is wholly conjectural. — Editor. 



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