- Fremont Cottonwood (Populus fremontii)
Common name: Cottonwood Scientific name: Populus fremontii Description: A fast-growing deciduous tree with furrowed gray bark on mature tree parts and light green smooth bark on new stems. Leaves are broad based and roughly triangular, with toothed edges. Uses: Predominantly used as fuel and for construction. Parts may be processed for use as chewing gum (Apache, Acoma/Laguna, Navajo). Also used for a wide variety of medicinal/ceremonial/symbolic purposes (including hair/textile dyes), in addition to carvings (such as kachina dolls), basketry, and tool parts (esp. handles for lithic blades). - Ironwood (Olneya tesota)
Common name: Ironwood Scientific name: Olneya tesota Description: Ironwood is a desert evergreen with dark gray bark and small dark green leaves clustered like those on mesquite. The tree produces small pinkish flowers and seed pods between May and early summer. Desert ironwood makes excellent firewood; it burns long and hot and makes good coals. Harvest for woodcarvings and charcoal has nearly extirpated large trees in most of Sonora, and campers and illegal woodcutters are depleting accessible populations in the United States. Because of their slow growth rate and historic-modern depletion, it has become illegal to harvest and/or burn ironwood; this tree is protected in both Sonora and Arizona. Uses: The wood is extremely dense; it will not float in water. The Seri Indians favor the ironwood to make their famous wood carvings - a craft developed in the early 1960s for tourist trade. The seeds could also be used as food, if leached and then ground. - Mesquite (Prosopis spp.)
Common name: Mesquite Scientific name: Prosopis spp. Description: Mesquite is a relatively common tree in the southern Southwest, with a variety of species present as far north as the Verde Valley in Arizona. The tree grows relatively quickly, has catkin-like clusters of leaves, and sweet-smelling bead pods. The pods are either sweet or bitter depending on the variety. Uses: Mesquite has been an important food source for indigenous peoples. The Tohono O’odham (Papago) are on the verge of commercial success with this crop. Mesquite flour also has major conservation potential, in that it can be made into “bread” without baking. The Pima have traditionally crushed and soaked mesquite pods in water to produce a drink called vau. Mesquite wood is hard, attractive, and in high demand for quality furniture. Mesquite has recently surpassed hickory as the most popular smoke flavoring for food. Because of the overharvesting, its wood should not be used for this purpose; burning dried pods imparts the same flavor. Both indigenous peoples and early European/American settlers used the tree's inner bark as material for basketry, coarse fabrics, and medicine to treat a variety of disorders. Gum exuded from the stem is used for manufacture of candy (gumdrops), mucilage for mending pottery, and black dye. - Shrub Live-Oak (Quercus turbinella)
Common name: Live Oak Scientific name: Quercus turbinella Uses: Acorns (nuts) widely eaten as food by Acoma, Apache, Cocopah, Gosiute, Havasupai, Hualapai, Laguna, Mohave, Navajo, Papago, Pima, Southern Paiute, Tewa, Uintah Ute, Yavapai, and Yuma. Variously used for making tools/tool parts (digging sticks, handles, etc.), ceremonial/ritual purposes, and as a tannin (Apache). Sap may also be used as chewing gum or as an adhesive (Navajo). - Velvet Mesquite (Prosopis velutina)
Common names: Mesquite Scientific name: Prosopis velutina Description: A common desert tree with catkin-like clusters of greenish-yellow flowers from April to June. The flowers are followed by long sweet-smelling bean pods. Dye: Black from the sap. Weaving: The shredded inner bark woven into baskets. Other uses: Food such as 'pinole' meal-cakes and tea. - Cliffrose (Cowania mexicana)
Common names: Cliffrose, Quinine-bush Scientific name: Cowania mexicana Description: Small shrub with cream-colored, small rose-like flowers in the early summer and fall. Dye: When mixed with pounded juniper branches, cliffrose produces a tan dye. Other uses: shredded bark padding, arrows, and as medicine. - Bow and Arrows
Cultural Period: Navajo Description: Wooden sinew-reinforced bow painted black and bearing a singly-ply twisted rawhide bowstring; solid wooden arrow shaft painted red and tipped with tin/iron point and fletched with long black feathers, from Chinle; modern-made Navajo arrow with a metal point and decorated with blue, red, black, and white paint. Dimensions: 52 1/2 inches long (bow); 23-24 1/2 inches long (arrows); 57 cm (modern arrow). Collection: On display at Navajo National Monument. - Hafted Axe
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Fully-grooved stone axe hafted with a wooden loop handle, collected by Byron Cummings in 1909. The axe head is made of basalt. The bit and sides are polished, but the back of the head is rough - either pecked or used for pounding. The handle is looped around the lateral groove in the axe head, and smaller split twigs or vines hold the handle and axe head in place. Red pigment is still apparent on the loop around the axe head. Dimensions: 4 L x 3 1/4 W x 2 7/8 T (axe). Collection: On display at Navajo National Monument (Catalog No. 433). - Knife Handle
Cultural Period: Unknown. Description: Oak knife handle from Keet Seel. Dimensions: Unknown. Collection: On display at Navajo National Monument (Catalog No. 2211). - Wooden Spindle Whorl
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Wooden spindle whorl. Dimensions: Unknown. Collection: On display at Navajo National Monument (Catalog No. 1278). - Wooden Weaving Comb
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Wooden weaving comb, fire-blackened and broken in half lengthwise. Dimensions: 2 1/3 L x 3/4 W (inches). Collection: On display at Navajo National Monument (Catalog No. 3474). - Wood and Bone Awls or Hairpins
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Wood and bone awls or hairpins. Catalog No. 2228 is illustrated in Keith Anderson's dissertation on Tsegi Phase technology. Catalog No. 1008 is made of bone; the others are wood. Dimensions: 4 1/2 X 7/16 X 9/16 inches (Catalog No. 2226). Collection: On display at Navajo National Monument (Catalog No. 15440 - bottom, 1008 - second from bottom, 2228 - second from top, and 2226 - top). - Carved Cottonwood Root
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Whittled wood object. Dimensions: 3 3/4 L x 7/16 W (shaft) x 1/4 T (inches). Collection: On display at Navajo National Monument (Catalog No. 29). - Corn Cob on a Stick
Description: Corn cob on a stick. Dimensions: Unknown. Collection: Navajo National Monument. - Rabbit Stick
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Curved wooden (oak?) rabbit stick with a sharpened outer edge. Dimensions: 16 1/2 L x 3 W (inches). Collection: On display at Navajo National Monument (Catalog No. 167).