Looking Back: the Basketmaker II Origin of Motif 2 Triangular Form
While this study is focused on Basketmaker III black-on-white bowls and bowl sherds, in the context of Motif 2 it is now going to look back to Basketmaker II woven textiles - specifically those from White Dog Cave in Navajo County, Arizona. This site, located 50 miles west of the study area, was excavated in 1916 by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University (Samuel James Guernsey and Alfred Vincent Kidder, Basketmaker Caves of Northeastern Arizona: Report on the Explorations, 1916-17, Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Vol. VIII - No. 2, Cambridge, 1921). Woven bags and baskets recovered from the cave are illustrated by black-and-white drawings and photographs in the Basketmaker Caves report, and by color photographs on the Peabody Museum Collections Online website.
Examination of both these sources has resulted in the identification of a single fragment of a Basketmaker II woven bag that depicts Motif 2 in the Triangular form (floating variety). The PMAE photograph of 16-9-10/A3157 appears to show a diagonal row of five (or possibly 6) black necked triangular heads floating to the right of a red indeterminate geometric figure. The White Dog Cave bag pushes the creation of Motif 2 back into the Basketmaker II period, possibly ca. 190 B.C. +/- 85 years.
Examination of both these sources has resulted in the identification of a single fragment of a Basketmaker II woven bag that depicts Motif 2 in the Triangular form (floating variety). The PMAE photograph of 16-9-10/A3157 appears to show a diagonal row of five (or possibly 6) black necked triangular heads floating to the right of a red indeterminate geometric figure. The White Dog Cave bag pushes the creation of Motif 2 back into the Basketmaker II period, possibly ca. 190 B.C. +/- 85 years.
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Motif 2 Triangular Form on woven bag fragment from White Dog Cave (NA5377). Stylized drawing by author after 16-9-10/A3157 on the PMAE website.
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[A color photograph of this bag can be seen on the website: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, Collections Online. In the "quick search" box type in the following catalog number:
16-9-10/A3157]
16-9-10/A3157]
