Perishable: Twined Mat, AMNH 29.0/9894

Summary

Twined Mat, Accession AMNH29.0, Catalog #9894. Morris FS 3378. Analyzed by Laurie Webster, 2006. Twined mat or cradleboard, 2-strand twining (S), reeds, wood, and yucca fiber. Images: AMNH 29.0/9894A: twined mat or cradleboard. Recovered from Earl Morris' excavation of Room 126, Aztec West Ruin. Earl Morris’ description of Room 126 at the time of excavation is as follows. “The fill in Room 126 averaged 16 feet in depth. The lower 1 and one-half to 2 and one-half feet was Mesa Verde refuse….[Description of artifacts]. The fill thence to the surface was of building wreckage containing the timbers of the first, and charred remnants of the second and third ceilings….The first ceiling had rested on one pine log, extending north and south, that is, the long way of the room. The small poles were of cottonwood. Beginning at floor level and 2 feet from the south end of the east wall, the masonry had been torn out to an average width of 1 and one-half feet and a height of 5 feet 8 inches. The lower part of the cavity had been made into a niche by linteling the breach at a height of 3 feet 2 inches with cedar poles and refilling the space above with masonry set back a few inches from the wall face. There are first and second story doorways in the center of the north wall….There are no ventilators in the first story, but one is present in each end of the north wall of the second.” (Morris1928: 369-370).

Reference: Earl Morris, 1928, Notes on Excavations in the Aztec Ruin, Volume XXVI, Part V, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, New York.

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1110 to 1140 (Late Chacoan)

Calendar Date: 1140 to 1280 (Post-Chacoan)

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Lori Reed

Contributor(s): Gary Brown; Anne Grulich; Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, NM; Aztec Ruins National Monument

Principal Investigator(s): Laurie Webster

Repository(s): Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, NM; American Museum of Natural History, New York City, NY

Notes

Rights & Attribution: Publication or use of the image is restricted; permission may be obtained through consultation with American Museum of Natural History and Aztec Ruins National Monument.

Rights & Attribution: High resolution images of the item are archived and available to researchers through the National Park Service, Aztec Ruins National Monument.

Rights & Attribution: Artifact was collected from Aztec West Ruin excavations by Earl Morris between 1916 and 1922. Morris' excavations were sponsored and funded by the American Museum of Natural History, New York.

Source Collections

Original Items: American Museum of Natural History, New York, and NPS, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, New Mexico

Image: NPS, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, New Mexico

Related Comparative Collections

Aztec Ruins Collections housed at Hibben Center, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

Aztec Ruins Collections housed at American Museum of Natural History, New York

Aztec Ruins Collections housed at Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, New Mexico

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