Home / ID Guides / Plants and Perishables 472
- Prescott Black-on-Gray with Mend Hole and Cotton String
Description: A Prescott Black-on-Gray bowl rim sherd mended prehistorically by drilling a hole from the exterior. The S-twist cotton string is original and would have joined the hole in this sherd to a matching mend hole in the vessel. Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.3 x 0.7 cm. Collection: On display at the Tuzigoot National Monument Visitor Center (catalog card). - Havasupai Burden Basket, Interior
Description: Havasupai burden basket found near Pasture Wash by a CCC enrollee and turned over to the Museum; precise location of the original find is unknown, but the basket was reportedly lying on the surface and partially buried. Dimensions: Unknown. Collection: Grand Canyon National Park (Catalog No. GRCA 16592). - Agave Knife
Description: Hafted agave knife with an agave stalk handle. The stone knife blade was flaked along the edges and then pushed through the agave stalk while the stalk was still green (there are stretch cracks around the pointed end of the stone). This tool was well-used and exhibits extreme use-polish on the stone knife. Dimensions: Stalk-40.2 cm long, 4.5 cm diameter; Blade-14 x 9 cm. Collection: On display at the Tuzigoot National Monument Visitor Center (catalog card). - Split-twig Figurines
Description: Split-twig figurines in a range of sizes. Dimensions: Unknown. Collection: Grand Canyon National Park. - Matting and Basket Fragments
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan, Atsinna Pueblo (A.D. 1275 – mid-1300s) Description: This mount contains the remains of three different perishable artifacts. The upper left is a rim fragment of a wicker basket. Laurie Webster, of the University of Arizona, describes this basket as having a 1/1 interlaced weave structure with a multiple-element warp, and a rim selvage with 360 degree wrapping around a group of perhaps four twigs. Each warp twig is 1.5 - 1.8 mm in diameter, and the warp channel is approximately 2.0 cm wide. The weft consists of a single twig, 1.0 mm in diameter. There are eight rows of weft per cm. The second artifact (bottom left) consists of the partial base of a wickerwork basket identified by Laurie Webster as having a 1/1 interlacing weave structure with a multiple-element warp. Of the six warp channels in the outermost row of the basket, three contain two twigs and four contain three twigs. The average width of the warp channels is 2.0 cm. The diameter of each warp twig is approximately 2.0 mm, and each weft twig is between 1.5 and 2.0 mm. The basket has seven weft rows per cm. Archaeobotanist Karen Adams identified the raw material as possibly oak (Quercus sp.). A brown substance with off-white specks adhering to the upper surface of the basket may be food residue. The fragments on the right are part of a large, deteriorated, consolidated mat-like object. Laurie Webster identified the weave structure as 1/1 plaiting, and Karen Adams identified the raw material as five-to-ten year old split oak (Quercus sp.) stems. The warp elements are 4.0-6.0 mm in diameter and spaced about 2.0 cm apart, and the weft elements are about 6.0 mm wide and spaced about 2.0 cm apart. Dimensions: 4.5 cm-long by 5.5 cm-wide (upper left); 7.3 cm by 11.0 cm (bottom left); 9.0 cm long and 21.0 cm wide (largest fragment on the right). Provenience: LA 99 (Atsinna Pueblo), RM 17, Fill. Collection: National Park Service, El Morro. - Hafted Axe
Description: A 3/4 grooved stone axe in its original wooden haft. Dimensions: 7.5 inch long handle, axe 4 inches. Collection: On display at the Montezuma Castle National Monument Visitor Center (Catalog No. MOCA 157). - Cotton Cordage
Description: Mass of cotton strings loosely twisted together and likely once attached to something else (perhaps a skirt or apron?). The strings consist of two strands s-spun and z-twisted together, with knots passing between strands and tying to one of the them. Dimensions: Diam. 0.1-0.2 cm. Collection: On display at the Tuzigoot National Monument Visitor Center (catalog card). - 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). - Axe Handle
Description: Prehistoric axe handle, encrusted with salt; a bit of yucca fiber tie still clings to the end. Dimensions: 7.1 cm from end, stick thinned for 17.4 cm by removal of wood from one side (55.8 x 2.6 cm). Collection: On display at the Tuzigoot National Monument Visitor Center (catalog card). - Matting Fragment
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan, Atsinna Pueblo (A.D. 1275 – mid-1300s) Description: Laurie Webster, of the University of Arizona, identified this artifact as a coarse plaited wicker mat-like object. The warp elements are 5.0-6.0 mm in diameter and 1.5-2.0 cm apart, and the weft elements are 5.0-6.0 mm wide and 5.0-6.0 mm apart. Archaeobotanist Karen Adams identified the raw material as five-to-ten year old split oak (Quercus sp.) stems. Dimensions: 16.0 cm long and 16.5 cm wide. Provenience: LA 99 (Atsinna Pueblo), RM 17, Fill. Collection: National Park Service, El Morro. - Raw Cotton
Description: Raw cotton. Dimensions: Unknown. Collection: On display at the Tuzigoot National Monument Visitor Center (catalog card). - Coiled Basket Fragments
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan, Atsinna Pueblo (A.D. 1275 – mid-1300s) Description: Fragments of a close-coiled basketry bowl identified by Laurie Webster, of the University of Arizona, as having a two-rod and bundle foundation and non-interlocking stitches. The rods are 2.0 mm in diameter, and the stitches average 1.5 mm in width. The weave density is two to three rows and five to six stitches per cm. Archaeobotanist Karen Adams identified the rods and stitches as sumac (Rhus sp., probably , aromatic, and the bundle (technically a welt in this basket) appears to be a twisted yucca leaf. Dimensions: 6.5 long x 21.0 wide cm, 4.0 wide x 16.0 long cm, 3.8 wide x 16.8 long cm, and 2.5 long x 13.0 wide cm. Provenience: LA 99 (Atsinna Pueblo), RM 17, Fill. Collection: National Park Service, El Morro. - Turkey Feather and Rabbit Fur Cordage
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan (Turkey House, constructed approx. A.D. 980) Description: Yucca cordage twined with turkey feathers and/or rabbit fur and knotted in two places. Dimensions: 51 centimeters long (20.0 inches). Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog card); on loan from the Museum of Northern Arizona. - Split-twig Figurine
View 3D Model Description: Split-twig figurine. Dimensions: Unknown. Collection: Grand Canyon National Park (Catalog No. GRCA 29978). - 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.