Artifacts

This beautiful basket, called sue-u by the Wukchumni Yokuts, was purchased by Clinton Hart Merriam on the Kaweah River near Lemon Cove in Tulare County, California on August 5, 1902. It is made from tule, a large aquatic plant in the sedge family that is common in Central Valley wetland environments. The handle, made from a cloth string, is an innovation to the design. This loosely twined basket exhibits an interesting start, in that it is not the typical cross-warped start seen on many twined baskets.

For this week’s ‪Artifact of the Week we bring you CHM-786, a large Wintu cooking bowl called “Tel’-lek”. The striking design on this basket is referred to as “luk-um-lil-ly”, meaning flying geese and is woven using a double-sided overlay technique of beargrass and red-dyed woodwardia over the primary split pine root wefts. This basket was sold to C. Hart Merriam by a Wintu woman on the McCloud River near Baird, Shasta County, California, July 22, 1903.

For this artifact of the week, we want to wish you a happy Día de Muertos! Here is a mock ofrenda showcasing some of our Día de Muertos artifacts. An ofrenda, “offering,” is a collection of objects placed on an altar in the home for someone who has passed away, usually associated with the holiday Día de Muertos, a day of celebration and remembrance for the deceased.

Provenience: ???
Usually on Artifact of the Week, we like to bring you interesting bits of material culture from around the world with a little bit of a backstory to brighten your day and broaden your horizons. But this week, we present a problem instead.

One way in which archaeologists come to understand the material culture they encounter is to make it for themselves! This is part of a field called experimental archaeology, in which researchers attempt to test hypotheses about ancient technologies through replication of artifacts or processes involved with their manufacture or use.

Jalisco, Mexico, 300 BCE – 300 CE
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This matrimonial pair is of the Ixtlan del Rio style of the Western Mexico Shaft Tomb Tradition, employing a caricaturized approach to the human form, with large heads, slender limbs, and exaggerated facial features. Adorned with nose and ear piercings, tattoos, and jewelry, these figurines likely memorialized individuals of significant social status. Objects held in the hands likely symbolize what profession or skills the subject possessed. Couples, such as this pair, are a common theme, perhaps signifying their close bond in life.

Collected in 1920s or 1930s from the Ituri Forest of the Congo by Reverend Dr. Roy Woodhams

Pandanun mats are important textiles in South Pacific cultures, and none are as important in Samoan culture as the ‘ie toga. They are displayed at important events, such as weddings and funerals, to represent the status of the host and are typically given to important guests, who in turn usually return them to their hosts. While they are often referred to as mats, this is actually an English misnomer: the ‘ie toga was always worn and never used as mat in the Western sense.

Donated by Janet Carey, September 2015

This week, the museum received part of a donation from Janet Carey, who lived in Alaska as a child while her father, Edwin F. Carey, was stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base in the years just prior to Alaskan statehood. Edwin flew supplies to villages in Alaska and acquired a number of artifacts through trade and purchase during his travels.

Collected by Clinton Hart Merriam near Fresno Flat, Madera County on September 21, 1902
375 x 165 mm

Almost 113 years ago to this day, Clinton Hart Merriam was traveling the California Central Valley documenting the lives of the native peoples he encountered, where he happened upon this cooking basket. Concerning the basket he writes: