Perishable: Willow Mat AMNH 29.0/7395

Willow Mat, Accession AMNH29.0, Catalog #7395. Morris FS 987. Analyzed by Laurie Webster, 2006. Sewn willow mat fragment. Image: AMNH 29.0/7395A: fragment of sewn willow mat. Recovered from Earl Morris' excavation of Room 54, Aztec West Ruin. Morris (1928:309) indicates that “The first 1 ½ feet of fill in Room 54 consisted of fallen masonry and the uncharred wood of a ceiling which had been supported by two transverse pairs of cedar logs. The interstices between the stones were not filled with earth, indicating little action of wind and rain before the subsequent filling took place. Above this basal depodit was 9X to 10 feet of dry refuse with a large vegetable component. It had been well sheltered from moisture; hence, perishable objects were excellently preserved. That the waste material accumulated dur;ng the Chaco period is shown by the fact that a human effigy vessel' (29.0-7321) was scattered from one end of the room to the other. Such vessels do not occur among Mesa Verde pottery. Other specimens from this room are: a grooved hammer, a chipped knife blade, a selenite pendant, a piece of selenite, five arrow points…[long list of artifacts]…The charred timbers of a ceiling were above the refuse, separated from it by 8 inches to 1 foot of drift sand.”
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.