Perishable: Yucca Chain AZRU8-2864

Yucca Chain, Accession AZRU-00008, Catalog #2864. Morris FS 3734. Analyzed by Laurie Webster, 2006. Yucca chain with 12 complete and 2 incomplete links composed of strips of broadleaf yucca. Joined with overhand knots, new elements added with square knots. Measurements: L 35.0, W 1.5 CM. Image: AZRU8-2864 A: yucca chain. Recovered from Earl Morris' excavation of Room 147, Aztec West Ruin. Earl Morris’ description of Room 147 at the time of excavation is as follows: “the immediate floor covering was a foot of refuse, with Burials Nos. 60 and 61 on the surface of the refuse…[long listing of artifacts]… In each end of the west wall is a ventilator opening and in the north half of the east wall is a hole made by relic hunters…The one ceiling support was a pine trunk extending from north to south. The poles were of cottonwood, spaced in threes, and spanning the entire length of the room. The support broke, first at the center, and again at the north wall. In consequence, the ceiling bagged down more than 2 feet at the central point and probably would have completely fallen during the last forty years, wreaking havoc with the contents of Room 136-2, had not the early visitors to the ruin set up a post with a cap piece beneath the break in the stringer” (Morris 1928:379).
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.