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Remains of coiled basketry are not plentiful in the ruins of the Mesa Verde. The museum collections contain only twenty-seven specimens, either whole or fragmentary, and two of these are from areas outside of the Mesa Verde Plateau. Even if we include the baskets of Mesa Verde origin that are contained in other museums, the total is small by comparison with the hundreds of pottery vessels found in the ruins. This meager total results from two circumstances; baskets are made from perishable materials so that only under exceptional conditions are they preserved at all, and among the Pueblo people of the region few baskets were made because pottery served their needs so much better. The present study is concerned with the twenty-seven specimens in the Mesa Verde museum collections. Its purpose is to attempt a classification of the basketry and to identify the baskets and fragments with the Basket Maker and Pueblo Indians of the San Juan River drainage, a region that includes the Mesa Verde. At present no iron-clad labeling of all the material can be made. For that reason an effort has been made to describe all of the material carefully, so that later, as more work is done in undisturbed sites, it may be possible to supplant the present classification with another based on more definite information. The temporary classification used here is based on the work already done in the San Juan area. The earliest study of ancient basketry of the San Juan is that of Otis T. Mason1, in which he describes the specimens collected by Pepper in Basket Maker sites in Grand Gulch, Utah. Later Studies were made of basketry from northeastern Arizona by Kidder and Guernsey.2 Another study of note, by Gene Weltfish,3 is an analysis of ancient San Juan basketry collected by Earl H. Morris, the Wetherills, Pepper and others. The writer is further indebted to Mr. Earl H. Morris, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, for the recent privilege of aiding in the study of other Basket Maker material collected by him.
As a result of these studies, certain characteristics have been established for basketry of Pueblo and Basket Maker origin. These criteria serve to separate the products of the two groups on the basis of technology, decoration, and basket shape. The criteria can be briefly summarized here for the purposes of this study.
All of the specimens considered in this study were manufactured by the coiling process. At first glance all of them look alike, and one would hardly expect to distinguish any variation in them. However, the nature of the coiling process is such as to permit of great freedom in producing different kinds of weaves. Fundamentally, of course, the coiling process is the same whereever coiled basketry is made. The framework of the basket, called the foundation, is a rod or bundle, spiraled continuously from the bottom of the basket to the rim, much like the main spring of a clock. Each coil of the foundation is separately inclosed in a wrapping of pliable, woody splints, and these are wrapped around the foundation continuously. If the foundation were removed from the basket the wrapping would resemble a screen door spring. The foundation and the wrapping together make up the coil. In manufacturing a basket, the splint is stitched through the lower coil each time it is wrapped around the foundation and thus each completed coil is held firmly to the one underneath. In a completed basket the foundation is hidden by the surface stitches so that differences in construction are not readily observed. In order to understand the technology of manufacture, it is neccessary to take some of the coils apart. By doing so, the peculiarities can be observed, and these often enable the student to identify the handiwork of certain Indian tribes or groups. In this way basketry has the same usefulness as pottery, stone tools, or other artifacts of ancient peoples. The result of such an examination of the Mesa Verde specimens is illustrated below. TECHNIQUE The techniques employed in the manufacture of the coiled baskets are shown in the following figures. The drawings are diagrammatic, so that none of them shows the actual surface appearance of the basket, but only the details of construction. The arrows on the splints indicate the direction of the wrapping.
One specimen in the Mesa Verde museum. The foundation is a single rod. This weave produces an openwork surface on the basket. This is a Basket Maker weave.
Two specimens. The foundation is a single rod. The alternation of stitches and "free" wrapping produces a decorative surface on the basket. The weave is a Basket Maker type.
One specimen. The foundation is a rod. The distinct feature of this weave is the interlocking stitch. Unlike the other specimens, the locked stitches of this weave would form a loose netting if the foundation rods were removed. It is a Basket Maker weave.
One specimen. The foundation consists of a split rod and a bundle of fiber through which the stitches are taken. The specimen was collected in a Basket Maker site in Moki Canyon, Utah, by Mr. Earl H. Morris. Weltfish illustrates a slightly different weave of Basket Maker origin, in which the bundle is above the half-rod instead of under it.
Eight specimens. The foundation consists of three rods, the stitches being taken through the topmost rod. The weave was used by both the Basket Maker and Pueblo Indians.
Fourteen specimens. The foundation consists of two rods and a fiber bundle. This is the commonest ancient technique in the Southwest. Except for the materials used, this weave is identical with the one shown above, Figure E. The weave was used by both Basket Maker and Pueblo Indians.
One specimen. Foundation consists of three rods and a fiber bundle. This technique produces a wide, flat coil. The weave could be either Basket Maker or Pueblo in origin. DECORATION Coiled basketry lends itself to decoration in a variety of ways. Three fundamentally distinct methods of decorating are represented in the museum collection. It is impossible to illustrate any complete pattern on these baskets because none of the material is sufficiently well preserved.
This is perhaps the commonest kind of embellishment. When stained splints are used the visible part of each stitch shows a spot of color on the surface. Designs are produced by various combinations of colored splints. The edges of the designs are necessarily ragged because they are formed by individual stitches, but when viewed from a slight distance they blend into a smooth pattern. This type of decoration was used by both Basket Maker and Pueblo but the former had a vastly greater wealth of color and patterns. The design shown here is an hourglass figure from a Pueblo basket; the box-like form already mentioned under Technique E.
(Decorative splints of the same material as the rest of the basket.) A design executed with splints of the same color and material as the rest of the basket must be done with variations of the weave. The simplest example of this is the alternation of stitches and free wrapping, as shown on Figure B. The design illustrated here is a copy of the surface of a basket from a cave on the Navaho Reservation, presented to the Mesa Verde Museum by Mr. Bruce Bernard, of Shiprock, New Mexico. This type of decoration is probably a Basket Maker Indian product.
(Decorative splints of different material from the rest of the basket). In this type of decoration, the pattern is produced by using unstained splints of a foreign material. In the example above, the splints are strips of feather quill, probably of turkey. These are dark gray in color in contrast to the yellow-brown of the basket. There are two examples of this technique in the museum collections and they may belong to the same basket, but the data is too meager for determination. This type of decoration is unique in the Southwest; at least its occurrence has not been reported elsewhere. The weave and the arrangement of the pattern are typically Basket Maker. It is possible that this method of decoration is the work of one women who departed from the conservative standards of her art to experiment with new materials. SHAPES Most of the basketry specimens are too fragmentary to permit any identification of form. Altogether four types are represented. These are shown in the figure below.
CONCLUSIONS By using the criteria already summarized, some classification of these specimens is possible. In only four instances is it possible to make a positive identification; that is, by the occurrence of the specimens in undisturbed levels of Basket Maker or Pueblo occupation. The basket found in Moki Canyon, Utah, by Mr. Earl H. Morris, is a Basket Maker product, (Technique D.) Since it is the only one of this technique in the collection it cannot be used in identifying other specimens. Of undeniable Pueblo manufacture are two baskets collected by Fewkes in cliff dwellings; the box-like form, (Technique E. Decoration 1, Form a,) and a truncated cone form, (Technique F, Form b). By comparison with these it should be possible to label others in the collection as Pueblo types. On the basis of technique, twenty specimens can be tentatively classified. Four of these (Technique A, B, and C) are Basket Maker products. Included in this group is the basket obtained from the Navaho Reservation (see Decoration 2). Of the remaining sixteen, eight can be classified as Pueblo on the basis of their fine and compact weave. The other eight, of somewhat coarser stitch, may be considered Basket Maker. On the basis of decoration, three fragments can be labeled Basket Maker in origin; the two examples of feather-quill work, (Decoration 3), and another decorated with stained splints. Judging by basket shape, one basket can be positively identified as Pueblo, the basket found by Superintendent Nusbaum in a cave opposite Fire Temple, in Fewkes Canyon. It is truncated cone form. According to this classification, fifteen specimens are Basket Maker products and the other eleven are Pueblo. Although this analysis is subject to later revision, it is of interest to consider its implications now. The summary does not permit the precise chronological labeling of each specimen in the way that Roman coins, for example, can be assigned to definite historical periods. At most it provides a clue as to what the unexplored Mesa Verde caves might contain. The indication is this: the apparent great occurrence of Basket Maker Basketry shows a much greater prevalence of Basket Maker cave occupation than is generally supposed to have existed. Further investigations will have to be made to test this conclusion. Likewise, a study of other Mesa Verde baskets, such as the score of fine specimens now in the Colorado State Historical Society, at Denver, might provide further data. It is hoped that such a study can be later undertaken. If it is granted that there was a large Basket Maker cave occupation, it remains to be seen whether all the sites will be found as well preserved as the Step House dwellings or whether they were largely destroyed by later cave occupation of the Cliff Dwellers. The prospects are not too bright. Even though the Cliff Dwellers had no archeologists among them, we can be sure that they had the human instinct for pot-hunting among the remains of the early people who lived in the cave before them. Certainly more than one fine Basket Maker basket found later use by the Pueblos. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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vol7-2d.htm
14-Oct-2011
