Perishable: Plaited Sandal and Wood Form AMNH 29.0/8855 and 8881

Plaited Sandal and Wood Form, Accession AMNH29.0, Catalog #8855. Morris FS 2345. Analyzed by Laurie Webster, 2006. Wood sandal form (#8881) and plaited sandal (#8855) with 2/2 twill and transposed, floated elements, decorative weave and raised zigzag design. Images: AMNH 29.0/8855_8881A: plaited sandal and sandal form. AMNH 29.0/8855B: upper face of plaited sandal (right) and 8881, wooden sandal form (left). AMNH 29.0/8855C: plaited sandal, underneath 8881, wooden sandal form. AMNH 29.0/8855D: plaited sandal, underside showing decorative weave and border. AMNH 29.0/8855E: finely plaited sandal, upper face. AMNH 29.0/8855F: finely plaited sandal, lower face showing raised zigzag design. AMNH 29.0/8855G: close-up of lower face showing raised zigzag design. AMNH 29.0/8855H: close-up of heel and raised zigzag design, lower face. AMNH 29.0/8855I: close-up of heel, upper face. AMNH 29.0/8855J: close-up of heel, lower face. AMNH 29.0/8855K: oblique view of lower face showing method of producing raised design with transposed elements. AMNH 29.0/8855L: oblique view of lower face of toe. AMNH 29.0/8855M: lower face of plaited sandal on top of 8881, wooden sandal form. Sandal form visible through hole in heel. AMNH 29.0/8855N: lower face of plaited sandal (left) and 8881, wooden sandal form (right). AMNH 29.0/8855O: close-up of toe end, upper face. AMNH 29.0/8855P: close-up of toe end, lower face. AMNH 29.0/8855Q: close-up of side selvage, lower face. AMNH 29.0/8855R: plaited sandal, upper face. Recovered from Earl Morris' excavation of Room 115, Aztec West Ruin. Earl Morris’ description of Room 115 at the time of excavation is as follows: “Upon the floor of Room 115 were quantities of gypsum and a gray shaly clay, probably materials used in pottery making…The next element of the fill was refuse…The greater depth in the southwest corner was due to the fact that the refuse had been poured in through a stair tunnel in the west end of the south wall. More than twenty-five years ago unknown parties sawed out a section of the western supporting timber near the north wall and also the south. To a height of 1 foot 10 inches this wall showed patches of red plaster and 6 inches farther up, flakes of white still adhered. As the space between had peeled off, the height of union between red and white could not be determined” (Morris 1928:358). 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.