Social and Economic Implications for Identifying Basketry Production in the Californian Archaeological Record: A Case Study from the Interior Chumash Region

Summary

Poor preservation of fiber technologies in the archaeological record has caused the importance of basketry in pre-Colonial California society to be often overlooked. Subsequently, studies of the social and economic elements of basketry manufacture, primarily done by women in pre-Colonial California communities, have been impacted. Despite preservation issues, the archaeological record can be used to study the socioeconomic contexts of this engendered craft production by identifying the tools used to make baskets. Through the use of experimental replication and comparative microwear analysis it is possible to identify stone tools used to process plants for weaving material. Further, locating these tools at specific places in the enculturated landscape may indicate where people were making baskets, thus informing us about the social settings in which these crafts were produced. Here, I explore these themes in the form of a case study and present the results from a lithic microwear analysis of multiple sites in the Emigdiano Chumash territory. Situating the intangible process of engendered craft production in the archaeological record allows us to explore new questions about the socioeconomic status of basketry and basket makers in pre-Colonial California society.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

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