Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability

CAS Anthropology Collections Database


Catalog Number

CAS 0129-0005   CAS 0129-0005; Basket
Category Basketry
Object Name Basket
Culture Aleut
Global Region North America
Country USA
State/Prov./Dist. Alaska
County Aleutians West
Other Geographic Data Aleutian Islands: Atka Island
Maker's Name Unknown
Date of Manufacture ca. 1890s
Collection Name N/A
Materials Rye grass (Elymus sp.) stems; Silk yarn
Description Deep round basket with somewhat conical base and vertical sides; Basket is woven almost entirely in spaced plain twining, with exception of the first few centimeters which are woven in closed plain twining; Warps are paired throughout basket, with each warp diverted alternately to the left or right in each succeeding row of twining; At two points there is also a grouping of plied warps that extend vertically from rim to approx. halfway down sides; Primary warp and weft material is rye grass stems; Designs are woven in false embroidery and overlay techniques and consist of four parallel bands just below rim, each comprised of straight line segments alternating with blocks of three adjacent rectangles in red, lavender and purple silk yarn and white seal gut; At rim the warps are gathered together and braided either to the left or right to form the final woven row; Where two braided segments meet, they continue upward and are combined with other segments into a heavy braided band around rim, the ends of which form a braided carrying handle.
Dimensions (cm) Height = ca. 33.0, Max Diam = ca. 25.0