Perishable: Plaited Mat, AMNH 29.0/8788

Plaited Mat, Accession AMNH29.0, Catalog # . Morris FS 2279. CULTURALLY SENSITIVE, NAGPRA ARTIFACT; ACCESS RESTRICTED. Analyzed by Laurie Webster, 2006. Plaited rush mat with two-color diamond twill design and intricate selvage. Image: AMNH 29.0/8788A: matting with two-color diamond-twill design and intricate selvage. Recovered from Earl Morris' excavation of Room 111, GRAVE 25, Aztec West Ruin. Earl Morris’ description of Room 111 at the time of excavation is as follows. “Refuse had been poured into Room 111 through a stair tunnel, presumably like that described under Room 92, in the west end of the south wall. Directly beneath the opening the accumulation was 4 feet deep, sloping down to 2 ½ feet at the northwest corner, and 1 ½ feet across the east end…The wares from the refuse deposit were of Chaco type, but the majority of the vessels from the burial level were clearly and distinctly later. However, there were some possessing characters distinctive of both periods and the largest proportion of black Tularosa ware which has been observed in the entire ruin. A thick pine log had been set into the refuse 5 feet from the west wall and 2½ feet from the south, as if to hold up the south end of the western ceiling support” (Morris 1928:355). Reference: Earl Morris, 1928, Notes on Excavations in the Aztec Ruin, Volume XXVI, Part V, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Also see: Earl Morris, 1924, Burials in the Aztec Ruin, Volume XXVI, Part III, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, New York.