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The Role of Basketry in Early Holocene Small Seed Exploitation: Implications of a Ca. 9,000 Year-Old Basket from Cowboy Cave, Utah

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Phil R. Geib  and
Edward A. Jolie
Phil R. Geib
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, 1601 Tijeras Ave. NE, Apt. 30, Albuquerque, NM 87106 (pgeib@unm.edu)
Edward A. Jolie
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, MSC01-1040, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 (edjolie@unm.edu)
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Abstract

Despite ranking at the low end of the continuum in net caloric benefit relative to other foods, small seeds assumed great dietary importance in many parts of the world, including western North America. In a series of publications, Adovasio (1970a, 1974, 1980, 1986) argued that coiled basketry technology was invented in the eastern Great Basin during the early Holocene as a specialized food-processing technique. Coiled baskets are indeed useful for collecting and processing seeds, but it does not necessarily follow that they were originally designed for this purpose. A whole basket recently discovered at Cowboy Cave in southeastern Utah returned an AMS radiocarbon assay of 7960 ± 50 B.P., making it currently the earliest directly dated coiled basket from the Americas. This basket is not a parching tray and likely had nothing to do with harvesting seeds. We discuss the implications of this find with regard to tracking the temporal spread of coiled basketry technology in western North America and the role of coiled and twined forms in the initiation of small seed exploitation. Coiled and twined baskets for small seed processing may result from reconfiguration of existing technologies to create novel forms suited to a new food exploitation strategy.

Résumé

Résumé

A pesar de localizarse en la parte inferior del rango calórico relativo a otros alimentos, pequeñas semillas asumieron un papel de gran importancia dietética en muchas partes del mundo, incluyendo el oeste de Norteamérica. En una serie de publicaciones, Adovasio (1970a, 1974, 1980, 1986) señala que la tecnología de cestería tejida en forma de espiral fue inventada en la parte oriental de la Gran Cuenca norteamericana durante el Holoceno temprano específicamente para secar semillas. De hecho, las cestas en espiral son útiles para el procesamiento de la semilla, pero no necesariamente fueron originalmente diseñadas para este propósito. Recientemente, una cesta completa fue descubierta en una cueva (Cowboy Cave) en el sudeste de Utah que arrojó un análisis de radiocarbono de AMS 7960 ± 50 B.P., haciéndola actualmente la cesta tejida en espiral más antigua analizada directamente en las Américas. Esta cesta no cumplía una función para secar ni probablemente tampoco para cosechar semillas. Hablamos de las implicaciones de este hallazgo en relación con el seguimiento de la expansión temporal de la tecnología cestera tejida en espiral en el suroeste estadounidense, y los papeles de estas formas espirales y trenzadas en el inicio de la explotación de pequeñas semillas. Cestas tejidas en espiral y trenzadas para el procesamiento de semillas pequeñas podrían haber resultado de la reconfiguración de tecnologías ya existentes para crear nuevas formas estratégicas en la explotación de nuevos alimentos.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 73 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 83 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2008

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