CALIFORNIA INDIAN BASKETRY

THE NATIVES OF CALIFORNIA WERE FAMOUS WORLDWIDE FOR THEIR INTRICATELY WOVEN BASKETS. AS I DISCUSSED EARLIER EACH BASKET MAKER HAD A DIFFERENT DESIGN. THEY USED OVER 80 DIFFERENT PLANT SPECIES, AND IN SONOMA COUNTY THE MOST POPULAR PLANTS USED WERE SEDGEROOTS, REDBUD ROOTS, AND WILLOWS. MANY OF THESE PLANTS WERE TRADED BETWEEN DIFFERENT TRIBES JUST AS FOOD WAS TRADED. BASKETS WERE MADE FOR MANY DIFFERENT REASONS - FOR HEALING SICKNESS BY MEDICINE LADIES, FOR CARRYING FISH AND GAME, FOR GIFTS WHEN THERE WAS A BIRTH, MARRIAGE, OR A DEATH. THEY ALSO USED BASKETS FOR WINNOWING SEEDS AND FOR BOILING ACORN MUSH, SERVING FOODS, AND FOR EATING AND DRINKING. BASKETRY IS A GREAT ART FORM AND IT IS A PERSONAL SELF EXPRESSION OF ONE'S ABIILITY TO USE NATURE AS A MEANS TO REPLICATE PATTERNS OF SPIRITS - ANIMALS, MOUNTAINS, WATER, OR PEOPLE.

BASKETRY HERE WAS PART OF EVERYDAY LIVING AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE STUDIED THE FACT THAT NATIVES BURNED SPECIFIC AREAS IN ORDER TO IMPROVE THE RUSHES AND REEDS SO AS TO GATHER STRAIGHT REEDS VERSUS CROOKED ONES. THEY HAVE STUDIED HISTORIC BASKETS THAT WERE MADE FROM UNUSUALLY STRAIGHT REEDS.

THE POMO USED BOTH TWINING AND COILING TECHNIQUES FOR THEIR BASKETS. THE TWINED BASKETS FOR CARRYING THEIR BABIES WERE USUALLY MADE BY MEN. WOMEN MADE MOST OF THE COILED BASKETS AND ALSO INTERWOVE THEM WITH BEAUTIFUL BIRD FEATHERS. THERE WERE BASKETS AS SMALL AS 1 INCH IN DIAMETER TO THOSE MADE FOR STORING ACORNS WHICH WERE AS LARGE AS 4-5 FEET IN DIAMETER. EARLY ETHNOGRAPHERS COLLECTED SOME OF THESE AND THEY ARE IN THE SMITHSONIAN AS WELL AS IN OTHER MUSEUMS. SHRUBS WERE CONSTANTLY PRUNED IN ORDER TO ENCOURAGE NEW SPROUTS OF STRAIGHT SHAFTS. THEY ALSO USED A HEMP MATERIAL FOR WEAVING ROPES IN ORDER TO CATCH DEER THAT WERE ABOUT A MILE LONG. IT IS A VERY INTERESTING SUBJECT THAT MANY ANTHROPOLOGISTS HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT AS BASKETS DO REPRESENT THEIR INTEREST IN A CIRCULAR CALENDAR AND PATTERN OF LIFE THAT WAS CLOSELY LINKED TO NATURE.