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1930J Kelly: Yuki Basketry 423
COILED WARE
Use and Shapes
Coiled baskets show evidence of the culinary uses mentioned above.
There are three principal forms - an open dish or b-0wl with sides
slightly flaring; a bowl with more or less straight rising' sides; and,
less frequently, a rather smaller type with incurved sides (i.e., convex
in cross-section).
Materials
The materials of 75 of the 78 Yuki coiled baskets have been
analyzed by Miss Ruth Earl Merrill. Her unpublished data are on
file in the Museum and may be summarized as follows:
Foundation material :
48 dogwood (Cornus sp.)
13 redbrud ( Cerois ocoidentalis)
8 dogwood and redbud
4 willow (Salix sp.)
1 redbud sapwood
1 hazel (Corylus rostrata var. californica)
sewing material :
43 redbud wood
22 redbud sapwood
9 redbud
1 redbud root
The distinction between the first three is not entirely clear, but
they are given here in accordance with Miss Merrill's entry. At all
events, the sewing material is always some form or other of redbud.
A somewhat similar situation obtains as regards the pattern-
forming element. Of the 71 analyzed cases of decorated basketry,
69 have the pattern produced by sewing· in redbud bark. In the other
two instances, redbud sapwood and redbud (?) supply the design ele-
ment. The redbud bark is a dark reddish brown color and contrasts
nicely with the natural buff-colored background. Apparently little
attempt was made to alter the natural color of the bark by dyeing, as
only two such instances were observed.