Perishable: Cornhusk Mat AZRU8-2781

Cornhusk Mat, Accession AZRU-00008, Catalog #2781. Morris FS 5251. Analyzed by Laurie Webster, 2006. Incomplete semicircular object consisting of a double layer of folded cornhusks folded crosswise over a willow hoop and joined by a pair of 2S-Z yucca cords tied in overhand knots. Measurements: Not measured. Images: AZRU8-2781 A: cornhusk mat on wooden hoop. AZRU8-2781 B: close-up of cornhusks folded over hoop, joined with knotted cordage. AZRU8-2781 C: detail of overhand knot. Recovered from Earl Morris' excavation of Room 189, Upper Level, Aztec West Ruin. Morris noted that Room 189 “contained the largest quantity of perishable objects from the Chaco period that have to date been taken from any chamber in the western half of the pueblo. [Later occupants] laid down a 1 to 3 inch floor of adobe upon the earlier refuse and a bin was built up in the northwest corner” (Morris1928:371).
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.