Prehistoric Indians of the SouthwestWormington, H. M. (Hannah Marie)
History
Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest
Wormington, H. M. (Hannah Marie)
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- Antiquities; Southwest, New -- Antiquities
The major item in the limited Basketmaker wardrobe was sandals. Anyone
who has walked much in the canyon country of the Southwest can readily
see how vital such equipment would be, and apparently the Basketmakers
devoted much time and energy to keeping themselves shod. Sandals were
woven of cord made from the fibers of yucca and apocynum, a plant
related to the milkweed. They were double-soled, were somewhat cupped at
the heel, and had a square toe which was sometimes thickened, but was
usually ornamented with a fringe of buckskin or shredded juniper bark.
To attach them to the foot there were heel and toe loops with a cord
passing between them. These cords were often made of human hair. Hair
was also sometimes used to provide the secondary warps in the sandals
themselves. A few pairs of large coarse sandals have been found coated
with mud and it is thought that they may have served as overshoes for
wear in bad weather.
[Illustration: Fig. 8—a. Basketmaker sandal. b. Modified-Basketmaker
sandal.]
Whatever the Basketmakers may have lacked in clothing, they compensated
for with jewelry and ornaments. Our information is derived not only from
mortuary finds but also from pictures painted on cliff faces by the
Basketmakers themselves. Hair ornaments were widely used. Most of them
consisted of bone points tied together to form comblike objects and
topped with feathers. Feathers have also been found made into little
loops and worn as pendants. Beads of all sorts were among the favorite
means of decoration. They were used in making necklaces and as ear
pendants. Some were of stone, carefully ground and polished, some of
bone, sometimes engraved. Seeds and acorn cups were also used to make
necklaces. Shells were very widely used, and it is interesting to note
that many of them were olivella or abalone which can have come only from
the Pacific coast.
It seems unlikely that either the Basketmakers or their contemporaries
along the coast were much given to transcontinental tours when their
only means of transportation was their own sandal-shod feet, but the
shells prove some sort of contact. Probably it was a contact by trade
carried on through the peoples who inhabited the country between the two
locales.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account