- 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. - Bundled Twigs
Description: Bundled twigs tied with twisted (yucca?) cord. Dimensions: Unknown. Collection: Navajo National Monument. - 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. - 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). - 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. - Worked Wood
Description: Smoothed and tapered wood. Dimensions: L 15.0, W 0.7 cm. Provenience: Unknown. Collection: WACC, Tonto National Monument (Catalog No. TONT 1570). - Fire Drill
Description: Fire drill with two holes. Dimensions: L 3 3/4, W 3/4 in. Provenience: Unknown. Collection: WACC, Tonto National Monument (Catalog No. TONT 1517). - 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). - 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). - Fire Drill, Alternate View
Description: Fire drill with two holes. Dimensions: L 3 3/4, W 3/4 in. Provenience: Unknown. Collection: WACC, Tonto National Monument (Catalog No. TONT 1517). - Wooden Spindle Whorl
Description: Wooden spindle whorl with a beveled edge. Dimensions: Diam 2, T 1/4 in. Provenience: Unknown. Collection: WACC, Tonto National Monument (Catalog No. TONT 1557). - Fire Drill Hearth
Description: Split saguaro rib fire drill hearth with one hole. Dimensions: Unknown. Provenience: Upper Ruin. Collection: WACC, Tonto National Monument (Catalog No. TONT 449). - Fire Drill Hearth
Description: Split saguaro rib fire drill hearth with one hole. Dimensions: Unknown. Provenience: Upper Ruin. Collection: WACC, Tonto National Monument (Catalog No. TONT 492). - Wooden Pendant(?), Alternate View
Description: Carved and perforated piece of dark wood identified as a possible pendant. Dimensions: L approx 4 cm. Provenience: Lower Ruin, Room 10, Floor. Collection: WACC, Tonto National Monument (Catalog No. TONT 1157). - Barbed Shaft
Description: Tapered wooden shaft with a barbed end; the end opposite the barbs has pitch or gum on it. Dimensions: L 19.1 cm. Provenience: Upper Ruin. Collection: WACC, Tonto National Monument (Catalog No. TONT 265).