Basketry (Archaeology)

For the past several years the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon have partnered with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz lnctians, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs to assist Dr. Dale Croes of South Puget Sound Community Col lege (SPSCC) in providing stewardship and management over a unique site named the Sunken Village Site. This site is unique not just due to its preservation and content but also in that it has been an opportunity for International (Japanese sponsorship in this case), federal , state, and local agencies to work with Tribes in the preservation of a area that is geologically distinct and vitally important to the maintenance of the culture of the three Tribes involved. This world-wide partnership will not only allow us to better understand but also better protect one of the best wet sites on the Columbia River.

This is my MA Thesis at WSU on the Ozette Baskets.  I attempted to do two parts of the scientific approach here, (1) observe and describe the 112 ancient Ozette baskets available at the time and (2) classify the basket attributes and types into explicit units of analysis for later use in the third part of the scientific approach (3)  explain and create hypotheses about these basket in comparisons to all other known Northwest Coast wet sites for my Ph.D. dissertation.  I also only do Ozette baskets in this study, and the Ph.D. dissertation also includes Ozette hats and mats.  To use the basket, hats, and mats classification and type designations, PLEASE USE THE 1977 and updated 2019 PH.D. DISSERTATION AS YOUR REFERENCE.  THIS MA HAD DIFFERENT TYPE NUMBER DESIGNATIONS, SO NOT CURRENT FOR COMPARATIVE WORK.

Here's how I describe this work in the original MA Thesis:

INTRODUCTION

The aims of this study are; first, to describe what has been found in the realm of baskets at the 0zette Site (45 CA 24), Cape Alava, Washing­ton; second, to establish a foundation for predicting what should be ex­pected in future excavations of baskets from this time period at 0zette; and third, to establish control of these data so that the 0zette baskets can be compared with both historic and prehistoric baskets in this area and elsewhere. This study will later be expanded to include the other forms of basketry--hats, mats, and cradles--and the cordage and knots at 0zette.

The baskets from 0zette were excavated from beneath a massive mudslide which, in prehistoric time (estimated to be about 500 years ago), covered a section of an occupied Indian village. The cultural material of this village closely resembles the historic materials of the Makah and Southern Nootkan groups. Almost all vegetal artifacts were preserved in a waterlogged environment under the mudslide. At present the area covered by the slide is being excavated and exposed from the seaward edge toward the center. The first longhouse encountered is nearly excavated. All the baskets in this house have not yet been recovered, but a large enough sample is available so that a basic study such as this can be accomplished. The collection of baskets used for this paper numbers 112 specimens [much higher for the 1977, 2019 Ph.D. dissertation]. The collection surely will be several times this size when excavations have been completed.

The universe for this study is from the first buried house exca­vated at Ozette (house B70 in the excavation series). This house is similar to the long shed roof structures of historic Makah, Nootka, and other coastal peoples. It is 66 feet long and about 36 feet wide, or approxi­mately 2,375 square feet in area. Baskets in the house were generally
found around the inside wall, along the bench-bed platform area where most of the household activities took place. Baskets found outside the house were generally broken, discarded ones. This analysis differs from previous studies of basketry in terms of the analytic techniques used. Nonetheless, the various attributes of baskets and the terminology used to describe them are standard and have been developed and used in studies of basketry over the past 70 years.

The Qwu?gwes wet site is located at the very head of Puget Sound in Washington State, USA (fig 1). Puget Sound has been referred to as an inland sea, but is better termed as a large glacially cut fjord that is approximately 145km long, running north to south, where the ocean salt water from the Pacific mixes with fresh water draining from the surrounding watersheds. Puget Sound was formed into the north–south fjord it is today by glaciers that advanced from the north at least four times, scouring and carving it for millions of years (Waitt & Thorson 1983). The Vashon Stade was the last major advance, reaching its maximum about 18,000 years ago, covering everything between the Olympic and the Cascade mountains and spreading as far south as our specific region of study. As the Vashon Stade retreated, its melting ice created a massive fresh water lake that released through the Black Lake spillway at the head of Eld Inlet, our site location, and down the Chehalis River drainage to the Pacific Ocean. Once the glaciers melted far enough north, the Straits of Juan de Fuca were open and salt water from the Pacific Ocean entered Puget Sound, making it the salt water ‘inland sea’ it is today (fig 1).

Our research area encompasses the southern reaches of the traditional territory of the Lushootseed-speaking Coast Salish People and language family, sometimes referred to as Puget [Sound] Salish (Suttles & Lane 1990, 485–502; Thompson & Kinkade 1990, 38; fig 1). Few systematic archaeological investigations have occurred in this region, especially in the southern section of Lushootseed traditional territory, so this paper should be considered a much needed synthesis of a well-preserved waterlogged site. Qwu?gwes forms the main reference point for our synthesized presentations, and this work is based on the original papers presented by the authors at the 11th International Wetland Archaeology Research Project (WARP) conference in Edinburgh (21–24 September 2005). This joint investigation of the Squaxin Island Tribe and South Puget Sound Community College has been ongoing for several years and provides both a scientific and cultural perspective of the many findings. Earlier publications stress the basis of this joint co-operative effort and the need for co-ordinated scientific and Native cultural understandings and explanations (Foster & Croes 2002, 2004).

Traditional arts are the products based upon the knowledge and skill of individuals, where particularly natural raw materials are used, reflecting the culture, tradition and customs of a community and the feelings, thoughts and skills of individuals.
Throughout history, all communities formed their own cultural structures with these art products they produced in compliance with the raw material and natural structure of the regions they lived. In the formation of such a structure, nomads are of importance and they developed their existing culture and enriched it.
The existence of wicker knitting, one of the earliest arts of the world, in prehistorical periods is known through basket parts, bone stilettos and stone carvings found in the graves unearthed in excavations. In the current time, wicker knitting products integrated with modern sense of design are on the way of having a large field of usage in our daily lives. The purpose of the current study is to introduce the development of wicker knitting among traditional Turkish arts, the current position and designs for new fields of usage. As the method of the study, screening and test models were used. Depending on the products used in the past in this sense, new product applications were realized aiming at the current fields of usage.

Plaitworks are fundamental in basic activities among Amerindian peoples, such as transporting and food processing. They also occupy a prominent position in their ontology, expressing and turning active aesthetic precepts and worldviews. These objects offer excellent opportunities for studies on the multiple relationships between humans and the material world, such as artifact variability, technology, corporeality, as well as others possibilities. Even so, they are understudied by Archaeology and Ethnoarchaeology. This small research investment is perhaps due to the low potential for preservation of these materials in the archaeological record, which leads to a lack of knowledge and dissemination on the different possibilities of plaitworks studies, both from empirical and theoretical points of view. Plaitworks are perishable, however, they persist in Amerindians’ life,  entangled with others technologies. If Archaeology serves to understand the relationship of Amerindian peoples and the material world holistically, then it is also necessary to include these artifacts in the Archaeology agenda. This paper, therefore, aims to highlight the research potential that plaitworks provide for ethnoarchaeological approach. Some inquiry possibilities are indicated by previous studies, and through my ongoing doctoral research.

During the late 1970s and 1980s we excavated a 3,000 year old wet site and 900 year old Rockshelter at the mouth of the Hoko River, Washington State, USA. Even though much of the photographic recording was in color slides and black and white film, we undertook to scan over 3000 representative images from the excavations and this is indexed for both sites, including a way to virtually excavate in 5 cm levels in the Hoko Rockshelter.

The digital image links at this site for the Rockshelter (45CA21) shell midden (~900 years old; Late Period) include:  Introduction to the Rockshelter, Digital Excavation, Harris Matrix, Shell Midden Profile Drawings and Stratograms, and Camp Life Images.

For the Hoko Wet and Dry Site (45CA213; ~3,000 years old—Locarno Beach Phase) digital links include: Wet/Dry Site Artifacts, Wet Site Stratigraphy, and Dry Site Stratigraphy.

Therefore, a comprehensive coverage of the digital image data for both of these National Register of Historic Places sites, representing 3,000 years of preserved heritage on the Northwest Coast of North America.

Also the first and second final volume of the The Hoko River Archaeological Site Complex are available through Washington State University Press (1-800-354-7360), and entitled The Hoko River Archaeological Site Complex, the Wet/Dry Site (45CA213), 3,000 – 1,700 B.P. (1995) and The Rockshelter (45CA21), 1,000 – 100 B.P. (2005) and posted as books here in Academia.edu.

As an add-on data base we wanted to make this HOKO RIVER SITE COMPLEX DIGITAL IMAGE ARCHIVE available in Academia.edu.  You may find it helpful for research and to help in classes as an example of a virtual excavation of a shell midden. The software is certainly aging, but at least we have much more of these important Northwest Coast sites documented in this manner. Any input appreciated

Turkey section of the “Baskets of the World” Exhibition, which is prepared by Dario Novellino and F. Ertug for the IVth ICEB in Istanbul and published in the  Proceedings of the IVth International Congress of Ethnobotany, F. Ertuğ, (Ed.), Ege Yayınları, İstanbul. 2006.

Basket-weaving classes, programs, and instruction books for ages 3 to 18 may provide insights into the cognitive demands of basket-weaving and the development of those skills. An understanding of the cognitive skills as related to basketry may apply to the possible early use of basket technology by Lower, Middle or Upper Paleolithic hominins such as Homo habilis 2 million years ago.

"Croes describes his type of archaeology as 'generationally-linked.'  His collaboratin with Ed Carriere, Suquamish Elder and Master Basketmaker, brings tools of Western science together with Indigenous knowledge and research approaches to gain a deep understanding of the weavings they have recovered.  They are able to see that ancient knowledge has been handed down through hundreds of generations over thousands of years by comparing the ancient baskets to the techniques used by weavers today.

Investigating plants used for building and craft activities is important for understanding how environments surrounding archaeological settlements were exploited, as well as for considering the social practices involved in the creation and use of plant objects. Evidence for such plant uses has been observed at many Near Eastern Neolithic sites but not widely discussed. Survival may occur in a number of ways, including as impressions in clay, and as charred or desiccated macroremains. Another, less well-known, way in which plant artifacts can be found is as silica skeletons (phytoliths). Formed by the in situ decay of plants, their analysis may tell us about taxa exploited, and locations in which plant artifacts were used or discarded. At Catalhöyük, an abundance of silicified traces of plants used in building materials and for craft activities survive, and are found in domestic and burial contexts. Their analysis demonstrates the routine use of wild plants, especially from wetland areas, for basketry (mats, baskets and cordage) and
construction, as well as the secondary use of cereal husk chaff in certain types of building materials. The numerous finds suggest that plant-based containers played an important role as an artifactual class, even after the adoption of early pottery.

I have been writing about Paleolithic basket weaving technology for 2 years now. In this article, I attempt to show that there was an intermediate period in the development of the technology when an understanding of structure and constructions based on right angle or opposing fibers occurred. This was the crucial breakthrough that eventually would give humans the power to make an almost unlimited number of items both large and small, such as large boats and large houses made out of reeds. It is my contention that it was this key technology that led to the rise of civilization. In previous articles, I have shown that basket weaving technology could have begun in a rudimentary form 2 million years ago with the creation of random weave basketry. About 6 thousand years ago this culminated in the rise of the Sumerian and the Egyptian civilizations. But somewhere in-between the power of right angle and opposing fiber structure was discovered which then opened the door to this versatile technology. The Lower Paleolithic site at Terra Amata in Nice France provides ample evidence that suggests this transition from random weave basket technology to modern regular basket weaving had occurred by 300 ka with hominins such as Homo erectus. In this article, I list that evidence and argue that it suggests an advanced form of basket weaving had already taken place.

It is my contention that by the Upper Paleolithic, many technologies were quite advanced. In particular, basket weaving or woven-fiber technology had reached a high point of development. A variety of basket weaving techniques had been mastered along with the manufacture of cordage and the beginnings of textiles. This knowledge and these skills were then passed on to Neolithic cultures who were able to make full use of these technologies in their sedentary and agricultural societies. Basket weaving or woven-fiber technology was a central technology all during the Pre-Pottery A & B Neolithic time period, a time period that lasted much longer than the later Pottery Neolithic. Furthermore, even after the invention of pottery, basket weaving skills continued to be crucial to both the Neolithic cultures and to the first civilizations.

I introduced a Northwest Coast Master Artist, Susan Point’s book on
her limited edition prints. Her book: Susan Point: Works on
Paper is readily available through online vendors and is a great
addition to anyone’s Native American Art collection. My introduction
reflects wet site art found through work along the Northwest Coast of
North America and is reprinted here.

Kee-chuckh surveyed his family’s territory from one of the main source of their wealth, the Hoko River and its mouth.  He was trained from birth to attain his family royal name Kee-chuchk, learning from his family’s Elders to manage and direct the harvest of the unique array of resources, materially and non-materially, they own. He particularly watched for signs of the chum salmon pooling at the mouth, and he had already sent part of his family and associates up towards the Hoko falls to prepare the traps for this season’s late autumn run. These lean chum would smoke well, and Kee-chuckh knew they were privileged to own a unique resource, a large rockshelter right at the mouth to provide a natural shelter during the late fall-early winter rains, allowing part of his family to more efficiently smoke the hundreds of pounds of chum for winter trade and consumption.  These lands and ocean-stretches surrounding the Hoko River had been his family’s for all times, and it was his turn to use it well so the family continued to prosper and enjoy the high quality of life it almost always provided.

Archaeological research at the Hoko River Site Complex, northwestern Washington State, focuses on deriving archaeological and environmental data needed to construct and test computer economic decision-making simulation models, in a sense to touch on the cultural process known to be occurring through the big family known as Kee-chuckh who owned this region exclusively and possibly through the entire site occupation (this ethnographic data is further elaborated in the Conclusion chapter 6 below).  Though this volume reviews the economic decision-making simulation modeling approach and results (reported in detail elsewhere (Croes and Hackenberger 1985, 1988, Croes 1992b)), it more specifically reports the mass of data accumulated from the unique Hoko Rockshelter site (45CA21), that has been used to test these and other models of the Northwest Coast past.  Since the amount of data collected from the overall site complex is large, this represents the second volume, with the first reporting the early Hoko River wet/dry site (45CA213; Croes 1995), and this volume focuses on the chronologically later Hoko Rockshelter  site (45CA21).

The research and excavation strategies for the overall site complex were outlined in the first volume (Croes 1995), however these strategies will also be summarized here with specific reference to the Hoko Rockshelter.

Situated approximately 30 km (19 mi) east of the northwestern tip of continental United States on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, the overall site complex comprises two quite distinct Northwest Coast archaeological sites located where the river enters the western edges of the Strait of Juan de Fuca (Figure 1.1). This marine environment represents the eastern extent of the Pacific Ocean influence, at the transition with the Strait habitat. 

The site complex contains two temporally separated major site areas:  (1) an upriver waterlogged (wet) site and adjoining (dry) campsite area (45CA213), dating 3000--1700 BP (reported, Croes 1995); and, the focus here, (2) a river mouth living area within a large rockshelter (45CA21), occupied from ca. 1000--100 BP (Figure 1.2).

Archaeological excavations from both sites reveal quite different kinds of ancient remains and data, which were useful in unique ways for testing the results of the computer simulations of economic evolution through time.  The Hoko River wet site provides excellent preservation of perishable artifacts, allowing a much more complete understanding of procurement and processing equipment, such as fishing gear, butchering tools, and transporting equipment (i.e., pack baskets), as well as sensitive styles of basketry for intra-site comparisons and good preservation of faunal and floral remains reflecting resource uses (see Croes and Blinman 1980, Croes 1995).

The Hoko Rockshelter site provides a classic shell midden site within a large rockshelter "container,"  with over 3.5 vertical meters and over 1,429 distinct stratigraphic layers representing several types of depositional features associated with occupations from the historic period back to approximately 1000 BP.  Using a Harris-Winchester matrix, a 3-D time sequence of layers representing 18 activity episodes is distinguished and defined (Stucki 1997, below).  Within this geoarchaeological framework, the abundant shell midden vertebrate and invertebrate faunal remains provide the base data for studying subsistence change through time, providing abundant data for testing the evolution of economics as predicted in the simulation models (Wigen and Stucki 1988, below).

To properly build a regional model, the overall site context, including both the regional environment and association of other archaeological sites, had to be carefully understood and evaluated.  Therefore, besides archaeological data recovery and analysis, a team of botanists, fisheries zoologists, invertebrate zoologists, and site surveyors conducted regional evaluations and reconstructions of key resources and cultural settings for incorporation into the overall model building.  In addition to the Hoko River team's data recovery efforts, a considerable amount of previously completed regional environmental research was compiled for the model building (cf. Croes and Hackenberger 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, Croes 1992b, 1995).

Further, and complementing the economic modeling and testing, the Hoko site complex provides opportunities to examine several related research areas.  As part of the research process several levels of cultural studies have been examined, and in particular (1) stylistic comparisons of artifacts from both sites with those from other Northwest Coast wet and shellmidden sites and (2) functional analyses of discrete artifact use, site spacial use, and subsistence and depositional configurations. Both areas contribute to the understanding of the cultural setting into which the cultural evolution of economic processes could be considered.

The Lower Columbia River section of the Northwest Coast of North America is thought to have had one of the highest population densities north of Mexico during aboriginal times (Darby 2005; Pettigrew 1977, 1990; Silverstein 1990), yet it has only been in recent years that Chinookan sites and culture have been the focus of concentrated research efforts by professionals. Archaeological studies in the Portland Basin, U.S.A. from the mid-1980’s to the present under the direction of Dr. Kenneth M. Ames of Portland State University (PSU) have provided substantive new data for interpreting the region. Much of the research has focused on household archaeology at the large village sites of Meier (35CO5; Ames 1994; Ames and Maschner 1999) and Cathlapotle (45CL1; Ames et al. 1998, 1999). Just south of these major village sites, on the southern end of Sauvie Island, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. is the well-preserved wet site of Sunken Village (35MU4), placed on the National Historic Landmark registration by Dr. Ames and Maureen Newman Zehendner (Newman 1991). Only about 250 archaeological sites in the U.S.A. are given National Historic Landmark status, and Sunken Village site achieved this status from over 50 years of erosion and collecting at the site, not systematic excavation or professional investigations.

In September of 2006 and 2007 the first systematic testing and recording of this waterlogged wetland site finally happened as a cooperative U.S. and Tribal and international archaeological effort. The mapping of 60 acorn leaching pits and well-preserved basketry in 2006 caught the interest of Japanese researchers working with similar wet sites from ancient Jomon Japan, and they offered and sponsored the extended field work in 2007. With combined limited resources, and the typically resulting abundant wood and fiber artifacts from well-preserved wet sites, we felt it important to promptly report this initial and exciting first look at one of the most significant wetland sites on the Northwest Coast of North America, and fortunately we can share this comprehensive work with an international audience through the Journal of Wetland Archaeology.

Sunken Village (35MU4) represents the largest known acorn leaching pit site in North America. During the low waters of September 2007, the international team of Japanese, U.S. and Tribal archaeologists mapped over 110 hemlock bough lined pits containing remnants of numerous waterlogged acorns, as well as basketry fragments, wooden wedges and abundant wood and fiber debitage. We estimate that, if all pits recorded were used, over 2.5 million acorns could be leached in a season at this site.

One fragile and ancient diamond-plaited soft flat bag recovered has drawn attention from regional basketry experts in the desert west of the U.S.A. Great Basin, through Jomon period wet site specialists in Japan. This distinct basketry type is recorded for up to 9,000 years in cave sites in the state of Nevada, U.S.A through Klamath and Puget Sound Native American modern collects in Northwestern U.S.A. In Japan these diamond-plaited soft bags are seen associated with acorn pit waterlogged sites from 7,000 years ago through Ainu modern collections. We have used cladistic analyses to associate ancient Northwest Coast basketry through over 2,800 museum baskets collections, and plan to expand that sample into the contact and ancient U.S.A. Great Basin and Japanese Jomon basketry. We hope this will demonstrate the first concrete evidence of a broad Pacific and very ancient cultural sharing, where ideas moved rapidly throughout the North Pacific Basin, as demonstrated through the use of acorn pit processing/storage, and with the sharing of distinct styles of basketry around at least the North Pacific.

The Sunken Village report is set up in six synthetic sections, starting with the above Section 1 general introduction, forward and listing of the contributors that made this examination possible on a very limited budget. Section 2 introduces the physical setting of this pivotal location, at the junction of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, and how this unique location contributes to the cultural importance of this historic Chinookan trade center on the Northwest Coast of North America. The historic developments in the Sunken Village area are discussed, affecting the archaeological wet site and originally revealing its uniqueness through over fifty years of vandalism and collecting. The archaeological sequence setting is set forth as well. Section 3 outlines the 2006 and 2007 first systematic archaeological investigations of the Sunken Village NHL wet site, followed by the overall geoarchaeological interpretation of the wet site from test excavations, ground penetrating radar and deep-coring. Section 4 considers the floral and faunal remains, and especially the focus of the site use, the leaching of millions of acorns in pits. Section 5 details the rich wood, fiber, lithic and bone artifacts, especially the sensitive basketry artifacts. And Section 6 synthesizes the array of data considered and summarizes the ecological, artifactual, and functional context of this newly investigated and much better understood local, regional and Pacific-wide bridging wet archaeological site.

12 original articles concerning the Paleolithic development of woven-fiber technology and its use in early civilizations. This 300+ page eBook is illustrated with over 250 photographs and pictures. More than 100 years ago Gustave Chauvet wrote that he believed basketry and simple weaving were present in the Upper Paleolithic sites he had studied. Yet it took almost that long to convince experts that this was the case. The discovery of irrefutable evidence in the form of impressions of weaving in clay provided the proof. Now it is also clear that basket-weaving and textile-weaving were not incompatible with the hunter-gatherer Paleolithic lifestyle and did not require the sedentary settled Neolithic way of life as had been assumed. This opens up the idea that basket-weaving or woven-fiber technology as I have called it, could have begun even in the Lower Paleolithic, millions of years ago. In these 8 articles, I outline how basketry could have begun perhaps two million years ago and then how it could have developed until the rise of the great civilizations of Sumer and Egypt which depended on this technology. I include ideas about how to find indirect evidence of basket-weaving in the Paleolithic era.

South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC), Department of Anthropology, in partnership with Archaeological Investigations Northwest, Inc. (AINW), completed a limited three week field investigation (September 5-20, 2006) and current evaluation-phase of the National Historic Landmark wet site 35MU4 (commonly called the Sunken Village Site), under contract with the Sauvie Island Drainage Improvement Company, Inc (Figure 1-2.1).  This testing work was required by the US Army Corps of Engineers to assess the potential effects of the proposed rip rap on the site in order to comply with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and Corps regulations prior to issuance of a Corps permit for placement of rip-rap along this section of the channel.  Based on the results of the testing, the Corps made a finding of “no adverse effect to historic properties.”  The Oregon State Historic Preservation Office concurred with this finding following the field excavation-phase and rapid completion of a Preliminary Field Report (October 1, 2006), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit to the Sauvie Island Drainage Improvement Company, Inc, to place rock rip-rap bank facing along 1,060 feet (320 meters) of eroding earthen levee.  The permit was issued and the rip-rap was carefully laid along the eroding bank face in October 2006, avoiding wet site cultural resource deposits and before the onset of high-water in the late Fall.

In a previous paper (Harris and Connaway 2013), we showed how rare direct evidence for Mississippian/Protohistoric-period (AD 1000-1700) textiles is in Mississippi. It was proposed that preservation and cultural factors related to the geology and climate of this state are to blame for this lack of evidence, rather than non-use or uncommon use of textiles by Native peoples of the time. We then demonstrated that the regionally widespread Mississippian (and earlier) techniques of loom-less textile weaving such as plain and alternate paired twining, with some elaborated variants, were present in Mississippi during that time period. Here, we present another eight textile impressions from fired clay artifacts found at five mound centers in the northern Yazoo Basin, including two, Hollywood Mounds and Austin Village, for which no published textile evidence was available. These eight imprints include three faint but discernible examples of plain twining with transposed interlinked warps, also known as "octagonal openwork, " an extremely rare textile structure in the Southeast. Also included are two examples of twilled split-cane basketry which, unlike twined textiles, is an art form that survives to this day among Native American groups in Mississippi and the greater Southeast.

REVIEW at: https://thebcreview.ca/2022/07/20/1528-laforet-croes-cordage/.

The “brother” to basketry, we have just published a 40-year update on ancient CORDAGE and KNOTS on the Northwest Coast of North America, with a focus on the 2000+ examples from the Ozette Village wet site. As one of the most common artifacts from Pacific Northwest wet (and shell midden) sites, cordage and knots play a key part in the dynamic Maritime Societies for over 10,000 years along the coast and riverways.

The flyer shows (in counterclockwise direction) 1. 3-strand, twisted cedar limb Ozette whale harpoon rope with a running noose knot on end, 2. Daryl Fedje, Director, holding a spruce and grass 3-strand braid string/thread dating to 10,700-years-old from a southern Haida Gwaii, B.C. wet site, 3. Makah Museum replica of the ancient Ozette house (in their museum) showing cedar limb 1-strand withes tying the house wall boards, slung between double pairs of poles, 4. 3-strand twisted cedar limb collar on a 700 year old Sunken Village wet site wooden wedge near Portland, OR, and 5. Ed Carriere, Suquamish Elder and Master Basket/Cordage Maker, shows how he stores his split cedar root in cordage loops for later use (these are common in ancient wet sites too). 

Please check it out at the publisher’s (JONA) web site: https://www.northwestanthropology.com/publications  and Amazon;

And see review in "The B.C. Review": https://thebcreview.ca/2022/07/20/1528-laforet-croes-cordage/

The prehistory of the Neolithic and Copper Age of northern Italy is mainly told through the testimony of durable artefacts: pottery, stone and bone. With the exception of a few noteworthy finds, cloth is rarely considered. Of these the most significant was the discovery over twenty years ago of a frozen man and equipment of predominantly organic materials from Similaun, Val Senales (BZ) dated to c.3300 cal BC, which stimulated discussion about the types of cloth used for clothing in the Copper Age. Particular attention was paid to the absence of woven textiles and the idea that a form of twined basketry made from grass was used as a cape. About a decade later, an exhibition entitled ‘Textiles: intrecci e tessuti dalla preistoria europea’, held at the Museo Civico di Riva del Garda, brought together archaeobotanists and textile researchers who focussed, among other topics, on the evidence of tools for weaving textiles and on flax as a fibre source in northern Italy from the Early Neolithic . While this work has added significantly to the evidence and debates surrounding the types and role of cloth in the Neolithic, the evidence and understanding of the topic remains patchy. The Middle Neolithic seems to fall into one gap in the scholarship, as it is too early to justify comparison with the Iceman and too late to be associated with Early Neolithic flax. Nonetheless, some form of cloth must have existed in these societies. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to bring together recent research and new data to question the types of cloth that were used in the Middle Neolithic of northern Italy.

Basketry artifacts fabricated from limb wood, spruce and cedar root and the inner bark of yellow and western red cedar have been found in water-saturated archaeological sites in the Pacific Northwest since the mid-20th century. These artifacts range in age from a few centuries to more than five thousand years old. While these materials retain their overall physical structure due to burial in an anoxic environment they are degraded on the cellular level. Experiments and treatments performed by archaeologists and conservators over the past 50 years have attempted to stabilize these degraded structures and minimize splitting, crumbing, and distortion of the woven structures as they dried. Many of these tests and treatments are published in out-of-print conference proceedings or remain unpublished in conservation lab records.  This review of tests and treatments as well as a current condition assessment of several collections brings this information together for the first time and allows conservators and archaeologists specializing in these treatments to see the broader arch of success and failure of the preservation of waterlogged basketry materials.

Rattlesnake Cave is located on the western shore of Lake Abert in the northern Great Basin of southeast Oregon, one of hundreds of archaeological sites in the Lake Abert/Chewaucan Basin. The site was dug by collectors in the 1950s, and recovered materials were donated to the Fort Rock Valley Historical Society and Homestead Museum in the early 1990s. We analyze 77 artifacts in the assemblage, which includes cordage, basketry, moccasins, as well as wood, bone, and stone tools. We report new radiocarbon (14 C) dates for the site, and the results of energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) on one basalt and nine obsidian bifaces, matching their chemical signatures to regional geologic sources. We discuss the place of Rattlesnake Cave in the broader context of the northern Great Basin while demonstrating how museum collections may contribute to addressing anthropological research questions.

Dr. Darby Stapp, Editor, wrote this introductory editorial announcing Ed Carriere, Suquamish Elder and Master Basketmaker, national award by the First Peoples Fund, one of four Community Spirit Awards in 2022: https://www.firstpeoplesfund.org/ed-carriere .  He also points out our new approach: Generationally-Linked Archaeology, which is explained in the article posted on this page from the SAA Archaeological Record magazine: https://www.academia.edu/48503826/GENERATIONALLY_LINKED_ARCHAEOLOGY_explained .  No doubt Ed's recognition is partly because of his work with ancient Salish Sea archaeological basketry from wet sites, and learning from up to 200 generations of weavers in his traditional territory.  Through this work he has made up to 4,500 years of ancestor's teachings available to all future peoples of the Salish Sea and beyond.

Anahtar Sözcükler-Keywords: İç Anadolu, tarihöncesi arkeolojisi, doğal ve kültürel çevre, kaybolan değerler, etnoarkeoloji, sözlü tarih Central Anatolia, prehistoric archaeology, natural and cultural environment, lost values, ethnoarchaeo-logy, oral history Güvercinkayası (Çatalsu, Gülağaç-Aksaray), İç Anadolu'da Melendiz su yatağının sağ kıyısında, dar korunaklı bir vadinin yatağa açılan kenarında, tek başına yükselen bir kaya masifinin üzerinde konuşlanmıştır. Yerleşme 1994 yılında " Aksaray, Nevşehir, Niğde İlleri Yüzey Araştırması " sırasında envantere alınmıştır. Yüzey araştır-ması alanı, batıda Tuz Gölü eşiği, kuzeyde Aksaray-Nevşehir şosesi, doğuda Derinkuyu–Niğde hattı, güneyde Hasan Dağı ve Melendizler'in kuzeye bakan etekleriyle sınırlıdır. Tıpkı günümüz köy, kasaba ve kentleri gibi, eski yerleşmeler de dönemlerinin ekolojik ve sosyo-ekonomik koşul-ları doğrultusunda belirli coğrafi konumları seçerek gelişmiştir. Güvercinkayası ve çevre araştırmaları kapsa-mında, 2007 yılında başlatılan sözlü tarih ve belgeleme çalışmalarının bir ayağı, kullanılabilir çevrenin kültü-re nasıl yansıdığını saptamaktır. Bu araştırma projesinin programı ve hedefleri yerleşim arkeolojisi, tarihönce-si kültürel ve doğal çevre, yerleşme modelleri anahtar kelimeleriyle özetlenebilir. Ülkemizin iklim ve toprak yapısına bağlı olarak arkeolojik kazılarda, büyük ölçüde toprak altında yok olma-dan kalabilen, yanmış ya da petrifiye olmuş malzemeler bulunmaktadır. Bu malzemelerden bir bölümü de, ancak uzmanlarınca ve gelişmiş analiz yöntemleriyle saptanabilmektedir. Elde edilen veriler giderek çoğalsa da, arka plandaki güncel yaşamı modelleyecek bilgiler yine de çok kısıtlı kalmaktadır. Bu modellemeleri gerçekleştirile-bilmek için, bakış açılarını geliştirip yönlendirebilecek etnoarkeolojik kayıtlara ve sözlü tarih çalışmalarına gerek-sinim duyulmaktadır. 7 TÜBA-KED 8/2010 ÖZET

Large gaps occur in the radiocarbon sequences of Multiple Warp and Spiral Weft sandals. The gaps begin during the initial Middle Holocene and last for several millennia; however, the sandal types are technologically indistinguishable on either side of them. To test hypotheses regarding the cause of these gaps, I evaluate the existing radiocarbon sequences of both sandal types, present 24 additional radiocarbon dates on sandals, and critically evaluate chronological data from sandal-bearing sites in the northwestern Great Basin. My results demonstrate that the gaps in the sandal radiocarbon sequences are highly unlikely to occur due to chance. Instead, the gaps are likely a product of changing land-use patterns during the initial Middle Holocene. During this generally arid period of Great Basin prehistory, groups began utilizing areas where reliable water was found in
both lowland and upland areas. This change necessitated abandoning the caves and rockshelters groups occupied during the Early Holocene, areas that afford excellent preservation of perishable artifacts like sandals.

This report offers the synthesis of the results of the excavation of the Mesolithic to Early Neolithic site of Hoge Vaart-A27. The excavation of the site of Hoge Vaart-A27 (Almere, the Netherlands) has produced a rich body of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data from the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic. The site has delivered one of the earliest forms of Swifterbant pottery and provides high-resolution insights in the particular use of this locale in the context of a drowning landscape.

Abstract: Basketry artifacts discovered in wet sites have been routinely treated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) since the 1960’s. Although the vast literature on PEG treatment of shipwrecked wood informs the treatment decisions for this material, basketry treatments often do not behave in the manner expected for waterlogged wood. This is in part due to the size and geometry of the material, as well as the parts of the tree used, such as bark and root. A group of waterlogged archaeological baskets at the Alaska State Museum provided the basis of an investigation into better PEG protocols for treatment of this material. Ancient baskets treated with 20% PEG 400 and 5% PEG 4000 were not adequately stabilized for exhibition and study. Testing suggests 55% PEG 3350 is a better solution for the remaining baskets in this group still in need of treatment, and consolidation with 10% Butvar B-98® in ethanol is effective in stabilizing the fragile baskets that had previously been treated with PEG.
Keywords: polyethylene glycol, PEG, basketry, consolidation, Butvar, waterlogged, archaeological

In this paper we present diverse archaeological evidence of a building aspect that has not been addressed up to now by the research on the Late Prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula and little known in general: the use of vegetal woven mats integrated in structures as just another construction material. These have been recovered from various prehistoric sites from the Southeast of the Iberian Peninsula through the study of daub fragments. The main evidence comes from the chalcolithic site of Les Moreres (Crevillente, Alicante), along with other signs coming from five enclaves, the Neolithic site of Los Limoneros ii (Elche, Alicante) and those of the Bronze Age Caramoro i (Elche, Alicante), Cabezo del Polovar and Terlinques (Villena, Alicante), as well as Lloma de Betxí (Paterna, Valencia). Those findings highlight the highly informative potential of hardened mud pieces and the necessity of considering more elements as prospective building materials from Prehistoric dates.

The research involved the efforts of a wet archaeological site specialist (Dale Croes) and a Master Basketmaker and Elder from the Suquamish Tribe (Ed Carriere), who joined together to replicate and scientifically analyze the 2,000-year-old basketry collection from the Biderbost wet site, Snoqualmie Tribal Territory, housed at the University of Washington (UW) Burke Museum Archaeology Program (Figure 1). Working on this analysis and replication project over the past four years, we concluded that it was not enough to call this a case of Experimental Archaeology; we describe our work as a new approach termed Generationally-Linked Archaeology, an approach that chronologically connects from both directions, linking contemporary cultural specialists with ancient and ancestral basketmakers through the science of archaeology. We present our approach here after publicly presenting our efforts to both indigenous and scientific archaeological audiences, including Native peoples at the Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association, Indigenous Ainu of northern Japan, and at a National Maori Weavers conference in New Zealand, and to archaeological scientists at two annual SAA conferences, the Wetland Archaeo-logical Research Project (WARP) 30th Anniversary Conference in Bradford, England, and a Wetland Archaeology Conference in central France.

Waterlogged archaeological sites (wet sites) have proven to be both numerous and from the earliest time periods on the Northwest Coast of North America. Only since the mid-1900s have they been explored and reported, and early in that process Native Peoples have taken the role of supporting and co-managing fieldwork at these well-preserved wetland sites. Wood and fibre artefacts provide up to 90 per cent of the recovered materials, representing the rich heritage reported from earliest ethnographic contacts along the coast. The recovered woodworking, basketry, fishing/hunting equipment and plant foods are important to ongoing Native traditions, and Native communities have often taken the initiative to make sure wet sites materials are properly recovered, preserved, documented, exhibited and protected for the future. This history and the case studies are presented for Alaska, Washington and Oregon States, United States of America (U.S.A.) and British Columbia, Canada.