The stone age in North America, vol. 2 of 2Moorehead, Warren K. (Warren King)
History
The stone age in North America, vol. 2 of 2
Moorehead, Warren K. (Warren King)
Indians of North America -- Antiquities; Stone age -- North America
Wooden pail or bucket, from a cave (see Fig. 632). This is formed by
digging out a piece of the trunk of a tree.
Flails of several shapes are found. These are from three to four feet
long, and have one end wide and flat for a length of fifteen to eighteen
inches. They were used for beating the yucca plant and cedar bark in
making yarn or thread. Doubtless some of these wooden articles may have
been used also for digging in the earth.
Two atlatls from this region have been described, one by Professor Otis
T. Mason in 1892, and the second by the present writer in 1894. (See
_The Archæologist_ for November, 1894, “Prehistoric Man in Utah,” by
Henry Montgomery.) The latter atlatl or throwing-stick had two loops of
rawhide and a shallow groove upon it. There had been a piece broken off
the upper part.
Wooden pipes were discovered in 1894, along with mummies and relics, in
cave-house ruins in eastern Utah. These are nearly ovoid in shape; the
passage is not curved or bent; and they have short bone stems cemented
in position for use.
_Textiles_
Knitted and plaited articles occur.
Corn-sacks made of the fibre of the bark of the cedar tree have been
obtained by me in the caves of some of the canyon Cliff-Dwellers.
Baskets, mats, and sandals, chiefly of yucca fibre, have been found with
the bodies of half a dozen mummies and elsewhere in caves in eastern
Utah. These show artistic skill in their manufacture. In January,
February, and March, 1894, Mr. C. B. Lang made an important collection
in three caves of San Juan County, Utah, which he asked the writer to
examine at that time and to make report thereon to the scientific and
other journals. With that end in view I made an examination and had a
number of photographs of the collection made. Only a few of these were
used in publication. Some of the remaining unpublished photographs are
herein reproduced for the edification of our readers. (See Fig. 631,
pair of leggings, and Fig. 634, birch bark.) Mr. George H. Pepper
described a number of similar articles from other localities in Utah,
and referred them to a distinct race or tribe to which he gave the name
“basket-makers.” As sacks and mats of much the same character have been
found by the writer in other caves along with the ordinary
Cliff-Dweller’s artifacts and skeletons, the propriety of separating
these people from the Cliff-Dwellers proper seems, for the present at
least, somewhat doubtful.
_Feather Objects_
Robes and mantles or shawls made of the feathers of wild turkeys were
also taken from cave-house ruins in eastern Utah. Several mummies were
found clothed with such feather robes, and some wearing sandals of yucca
fibre, and others having deerskin coverings upon their feet.
_Bone Objects_
Pipe-stems, pieces of hollow bone of suitable length, cut from the
hollow wing-bones of birds.
Skewers and awls of bone are numerous.
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