Home / ID Guides / Plants and Perishables / Wood and Cane 95
- 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). - Hearth Board
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan (Wupatki Pueblo, A.D. 1130 – A.D. 1260) Description: This hearth board from Wupatki Pueblo would have served as the base of a fire making kit that using heat from friction (such as that created by a bow drill) to light tinder. Dimensions: 9.1 cm long (3.58 in). Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog card). - Knife Handle
Cultural Period: Unknown. Description: Oak knife handle from Keet Seel. Dimensions: Unknown. Collection: On display at Navajo National Monument (Catalog No. 2211). - 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. - 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. - Oak or Walnut Planting Stick
Description: Planting stick flattened on one end and made from either oak or walnut. Dimensions: 180.5 cm, 3.8 cm diameter. Collection: On display at the Tuzigoot National Monument Visitor Center (catalog card). - Oak Planting Stick
Description: Crooked oak planting stick, flattened on one end and found sticking out of trash in the back of a small cave several miles up Sycamore Canyon. Dimensions: 128.5 cm. Collection: On display at the Tuzigoot National Monument Visitor Center (catalog card). - Pitch on a Stick
Description: Twig with black resin with a pine-like odor. Dimensions: L 11.7 cm; pitch covers 5.3 cm. Provenience: Upper Ruin, Entry Hall, Surface. Collection: WACC, Tonto National Monument (Catalog No. TONT 1397). - Planting Stick
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Wooden planting stick with one end flat and pointed and the other rounded. Dimensions: 40 inches long. Collection: On display at Navajo National Monument (Catalog No. 264). - Portion of a Cane Arrow
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Burned end of a cane arrow shaft with notch (nock) and binding. Dimensions: 2 L x 1/4 diameter (inches). Collection: On display at Navajo National Monument (Catalog No. 3184). - Possible Arrow Shaft
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Identified as an arrow shaft, but bearing an irregular surface and diameter. Dimensions: Unknown. Collection: On display at Navajo National Monument (Catalog No. 2245). - Possible Cradle Board Fragment
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan, Atsinna Pueblo (A.D. 1275 – mid-1300s) Description: Wood fragment identified in the artifact catalog as a possible cradleboard fragment. Epoxy resin was used as a preservative on the wood. Dimensions: L 45.5, W 17.5, T 1.5 CM Provenience: LA 99 (Atsinna Pueblo), Room 18, Floor. Collection: National Park Service, El Morro. - Possible Cradle Board Fragment, Alternate View
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan, Atsinna Pueblo (A.D. 1275 – mid-1300s) Description: Wood fragment identified in the artifact catalog as a possible cradleboard fragment. Epoxy resin was used as a preservative on the wood. Dimensions: L 45.5, W 17.5, T 1.5 CM Provenience: LA 99 (Atsinna Pueblo), Room 18, Floor. Collection: National Park Service, El Morro. - 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). - Reed Cigarette
Description: Reed (Phragmited communis) cigarette with one end angle-cut and charred, with dottle. Dimensions: Diam 1.1 cm. Provenience: Lower Ruin. Collection: WACC, Tonto National Monument (Catalog No. TONT 2393).