Collection place: Van Duzen River, Humboldt County, California / Culture or time period: Northern California tribes - Hearst Museum Portal Search Results

Start Over Collection place Van Duzen River, Humboldt County, California Culture or time period Northern California tribes

Hearst Museum object titled Burden basket, accession number 1-10518, described as Border is tied down with buckskin. Tag: "Nongatl". Per Ralph Shanks: Open-work twined basket bowl. Crossed warp starting knot. Peeled and some unpeeled shoots, possibly hazel (Corylus cornuta californica), warps and peeled shoot wefts. The rim is reinforced with two rods lashed on with a strip of leather. There is a leather strap that forms a handle. Starting at the starting knot there is 2 1/2 inches of plain twining over two warps, followed by two weft rows of three strand twining, followed by plain twining over one warp to the rim. The warps are parallel. The rim is trimmed. The rim has two reinforcing rods on the interior lashed on with buckskin of the type more often seen at the rim of southern Humboldt Athabaskan burden baskets. The workface is on the exterior. The basket has a rightward work direction and an up to the right slant of weft twist.

Hearst Museum object titled Burden basket, accession number 1-10528, described as Old, mended. Grimy and worn, in fragile condition. Hoop broken. Newer coarse twined bottom sewn on with buckskin thong. White overlay, 2-faced. Horizontal diamond bands. 2 rows of triangles like sawteeth just below rim. All plain weave. Label "Nongatl". Per Ralph Shanks: Close-twined conical burden basket, used. No starting knot due to repair. The base is an added on separate basket, made of willow (Salix), tied on with leather lashing. The main basket is probably willow warp with conifer root (Pinophyta) wefts and beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax) weft design overlay. There is a reinforcing rod at the interior rim that is a shoot that is attached to the upper weft rows, using a leather cord, with up to the right slanted leather lashing going through the basket every inch or so. Starting after the base repair there is plain twining to the rim. Starting at the base there is about 3 1/2 inches of vertical lines of beargrass followed by five beargrass horizontal diamond bands, with one plain beargrass band separating every two diamond bands. At the rim there are two rows of beargrass triangles separated by a row of plain conifer root. The rim is trimmed. The basket undulates. The workface is on the exterior. The basket has a rightward work direction and an up to the right slant of weft twist. The overlay is two sided, with the primary design on the exterior. The basket has a flattened side, probably to go flush against the carrier's back. The lashing technique and the undulation of the body of the basket are probably Southern Humboldt Athabaskan characteristics and the conical shape with a narrower flat bottom is Southern Nongatl characteristics.

Hearst Museum object titled Cap, accession number 1-10526, described as Basketry hat. Dirty and grimy, worn. White overlay; thin horizontal zigzags and stripes; 2- faced overlay. Mostly plain twined; 3-strand twining 2 cm radius from start; also a single row defines the design zones at 2.5 cm and 9 cm from rim. Tag "Nongatl". Per Ralph Shanks: Dome-shaped twined basket hat. Crossed warp starting knot. Probably hazel (Corylus cornuta californica) warps and conifer root (Pinophyta) wefts, with a beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax) overlay design. There is some string at the rim holding on a remnant portion of three weft rows of plain twining. Starting at the starting knot there is 3/4 inch of three strand twining, followed by 1 1/4 inch of plain twining, followed by one weft row of three strand twining, followed by 2 1/2 inches of plain twining, followed by one weft row of three strand twining, followed by 1 inch of plain twining. The rim is trimmed. The design is primarily three horizontal rows of beargrass zigzags. The overlay is primarily single-sided with the main overlay on the exterior and some design on the interior. The workface is on the exterior. The basket has a rightward work direction and an up to the right slant of weft twist. The basket undulates. Three Cabins, where the documentation says this hat was made, is 16 miles south of Blue Lake, in Wiyot territory. It looks like other Wiyot hats Dawson described to Shanks, and the design is similar to what is called a man's design, but not enough is known about Wiyot or Nongatl hats to assign this as a men's hat from either culture.

Hearst Museum object titled Cooking basket, accession number 1-10525, described as Finely woven old basket. Tags: "Nongatl" Per Ralph Shanks: Twined cooking basket, used, with food residue and abrasions from use. The materials are either willow or hazel warps with a conifer root weft and a beargrass overlay. There is one commercial cotton string at the rim. There is a crossed warp starting knot. Beginning at the starting knot there is 1 inch of three strand twining, followed by 1 1/4" of diagonal twining, followed by a single weft row of three strand twining, followed by one weft row of plain twining , followed by 1 weft row of three strand twining. Plain twining continues for 3 inches, followed by one weft row of lattice twining , followed by one weft row of plain twining, followed by 1 weft row of lattice twining, followed by plain twining to the rim. The rim is trimmed. The main overlay design is difficult to see, there is one or two bands separated by lattice twining, with triangles in positive and negative. The slant of weft twist is up to the right, with a rightward work direction. The basket has an exterior workface. The overlay is on the exterior.

Hearst Museum object titled Dipper, accession number 1-10519, described as Basketry dipper. The warp elements are hazel and the weft is a kind of root. Tag "Nongatl". Per Ralph Shanks: Twined basketry dipper, used, with food/ acorn mush residue. Crossed warp starting knot, dissimilar to Northwestern California starting knots. Probably willow (Salix) or hazel (Corylus cornuta californica) warps and conifer root (Pinophyta) wefts. Starting at the starting knot there is three strand twining for ⅓ inch, followed by 1.5 inches of plain twining, followed by a single weft row of three strand twining followed 1 1/4 inches of plain twining, followed by a single weft row of three strand twining, followed by 1 inch of plain twining, followed by a single weft row of three strand twining, followed by ¾ inch of plain twining, followed by a single weft row of three strand twining, and followed by one weft row of plain twining. The rim is trimmed. The workface is on the exterior. The basket has a rightward work direction and an up to the right slant of weft twist. The basket undulates slightly. The staining on the basket is uneven, perhaps because the basket was held at one end and the other end was dipped into the acorn mush.

Hearst Museum object titled Seed beater, accession number 1-10529, described as Seed beater or harvesting basket. Dirty from use. Openwork, mixed plain and twill twining; 4 rows at edge more closely twined. Handle: twined around stick bundle; braided warps wrapped around handle near edge of seed beater portion. End of handle flared, more closely twined. Called cultci. Per Ralph Shanks: Twined seed beater, probably used. Materials are perhaps a willow weft; the rods are a peeled shoot, perhaps willow. Where the handle meets the scoop there is a loop of braided willow wrapped four times around the handle. Plain-twined openwork. The slant of weft twist is up to the right, with a rightward work direction. The basket has an interior workface. The handle is bound to the scoop through scoop start. The rim is trimmed.

Hearst Museum object titled Serving tray, accession number 1-10521, described as Flat openwork basketry tray. Tag: "Nongatl". Per Ralph Shanks: Open-work basket serving tray, probably not used. Crossed warp starting knot. Probably willow (Salix) warps with peeled willow wefts. Starting at the starting knot there is plain twining with three rows of close twined weft rows at the rim. The rim is trimmed. The workface is on the exterior. The basket has a rightward work direction and an up to the right slant of weft twist.