Perishable: Rush Bundle AMNH 29.0/9713

Rush Bundle, Accession AMNH29.0, Catalog #9713. Morris FS 3198. Analyzed by Laurie Webster, 2006. Wrapped, knotted, plied rush stems, square knot, with 2Z-S yucca cordage. Images: AMNH 29.0/9713A: rush bundle bound with 2z-S yucca cordage. AMNH 29.0/9713B: close-up of bound end. Recovered from Earl Morris' excavation of Room 138, Aztec West Ruin. Earl Morris’ description of Room 138 at the time of excavation is as follows: “On the floor of Room 138 was a film of refuse containing Chaco potsherds…Thence upward, mixed with dust, wall wreckage, and rubbish from a deposit which had been in the second story, there was an almost inextricable tangle of pine timbers, splints, and cedar bark. There had been no fire above this area and all three ceilings had fallen into the first story room. Having been deeply buried, the wood was perfectly preserved. All of the ceilings had been of the same pattern: two pine log supports with pine poles resting upon them. As has been the case wherever observations have been possible, the supports of the successive ceilings were smaller than those of the ones beneath.” (Morris 1928:389). 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.