Northern Paiute burden basket, Ca 1910.

Northern Paiute burden basket, Ca 1910.

California
Indigenous Peoples
Hunting and gathering
Northern Paiute

Below is a Northern Paiute burden basket made by an indigenous women belonging to the Northern Paiute tribe. The tribe occupied east– central California, western Nevada and eastern Oregon. This tribe is known traditionally for their hunting and gathering cultures, where baskets such as this would have been utilised. The basket is made from willow, horse hair and wood splints, it is finely woven and is 76 x 71cm. The basket reveals more about Native Californian women during the 20th century, specifically, more about the indigenous women belonging to the Paiute tribe. There is an abundance of photographs which exist of indigenous women creating these baskets. They were used for the collection and processing of plant and animal foods. The way that the basket has been woven represent the specific method used by that tribe, and it also demonstrates the raw materials which the tribe had access to.

Northern Paiute, California
Collected by Frederick W. Skiff

Infinity of Nations: Art and History in the Collections of the National Museum of the American Indian

http://nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/california-greatbasin/156547.html

1910

Ellen Daly

The National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center, New York

N/A

Material object - basket

20th century California