Left: Basket woven of yucca fiber, found in a kiva at Mug House, Mesa Verde National Park (Colorado), Anasazi Culture, MVM. Right: Yucca fiber, best suited for items that would get rough use such as baskets and sandals.
MVM = Mesa Verde National Park Museum (Colorado)

A coiled basket with black geometric pattern. Diameter: 8.4 inches, Sinagua Culture, MNA.
MNA = Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff (Arizona)

The legends are only available in French!
Algerie - Tassili-n'Ajjer - Ozeneare - Deux pasteurs, dont une femme négroïde à droite. Cette dernière a une coiffure et un pagne blanc. Les seins sont visibles. Elle porte une corbeille de la main droite et un objet indéterminé dans la gauche. Le personnage de gauche est moins précis. Entre les deux, une structure circulaire indéterminable. La femme mesure 0,16 m de hauteur. Peinture ocre rouge et blanche.

This basket, collected around the turn of the century (1900), is a stunning example. It is woven of spruce roots and multicolored grasses. The blue color is created with huckleberries. (38 cm, ASM)
ASM = Alaska State Museum, Juneau

A small, densely woven basket with lid. The material is dyed and undyed sweet grass, interwoven to create a scene with water birds and a whaling canoe hunting a killer whale. The basket was acquired from the Makah in 1880. (Ø 24 cm, VM)
VM = Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich

Around 1900 this little basket was the property of the Thompson River Salish, an Inland Salish group who lived in the area where the Thompson flows into the Fraser River. They carried on an active trade with the Stalo Halkomelem, who lived further down the Fraser River, and so acquired this basket. A Stalo woman wove it out of cedar roots, dyed grasses and bark fibers. (16 cm, NMM)
NMM = National Museum of Man, Ottawa

The mats of the Coast Salish were originally woven of the spun woolly hair of the mountain goat and small dogs that were bred especially for this purpose. Although today weavers use sheep's wool, they have retained the traditional stylistic elements. The rug pictured was woven by Krista Point (see 112) who spun the wool herself and dyed it with natural dyes. She says that the pattern of connected triangles represents butterflies. (87 cm)

The legends are only available in German or Spanish
In dem auf 2960 Meter Höhe gelegenen Cajamarca lockte Francisco Pizarro den Inka Atahualpa in einen Hinterhalt und nahm ihn gefangen. Noch heute wird die «Camara de rescate» gezeigt, jenes Zimmer, das Atahualpa mit Gold anfüllen ließ. Das Lösegeld rettete ihn jedoch nicht vor dem gewaltsamen Tod. Cajamarca hat bis heute weitgehend seinen kolonialen Charakter bewahrt, und mit seinen 30‘000 Einwohnern ist es ein reger Marktflecken: Eine Marktfahrerin spinnt ihre Wolle im Gehen. - 1976

The majority of Paraguay's Indians are Guaranis. You also meet them in the Argentinean province of Misiones. This indigenous woman is sitting outside her house, weaving a basket. - 1973

The majority of Paraguay's Indians are Guaranis. You also meet them in the Argentinean province of Misiones. This indigenous man is sitting outside her house, weaving a basket. - 1973

The coffee harvest takes place at different times of the year in most of the Central American republics. Coffee trees are one of the main natural resources of the countries of the subcontinent. Drying of the beans takes place immediately after the harvest of the precious commodity. This operation is carried out in an ingenio (factory) established on the slopes of the mountain, in all regions where coffee trees are particularly well represented. - 1977

Coffee plantation near Santa Ana in El Salvador. Coffee is harvested in most Central American republics and at different times of the year. It is one of the most important natural resources of the subcontinent. Immediately after the harvest, the beans are dried. This process takes place in factories built on the hillsides of the more important plantation areas. - 1977

Young Mayan woman at the Friday market in San Francisco El Alto in the department of Totonicapán, Guatemala. Following the example of their ancestors from pre-Columbian times, Mayan women today still carry everything on their heads, the laundry they washed at the river, the fruits, utensils, edibles and small pets they want to sell at the market. To do so, they use magnificent baskets made by the artisans of their community. - 1977

A Mayan woman at the Friday market in San Francisco El Alto in the department of Totonicapán, Guatemala. Following the example of their ancestors from pre-Columbian times, Mayan women today still carry everything on their heads, the laundry they washed at the river, the fruits, utensils, edibles and small pets they want to sell at the market. To do so, they use magnificent baskets made by the artisans of their community. - 1977

Mother and child photographed on the road from Quezaltenango to the capital of Guatemala. Like their more distant pre-Columbian ancestors, today's Mayan women carry everything on their heads: the clothes they have washed at the river, the products of the land and crafts, the provisions for the road or even the small domestic animals they go to sell at the nearest market. For this purpose, they use beautiful baskets made by artists from their community. The youngest child in the family accompanies his mother on all her journeys. Thus, from a very young age, the Indian child comes into contact with all the realities of the daily life of the woman to whom he owes his birth. - 1977

A basket trader at the Murzuk market sells her wares. - Libya - 1964

A girl at the Murzuk market. Its elegant posture comes from learning to carry heavy loads on its head at a very early age. - Libya - 1964

A basket trader advertises her wares. - Port of Kabara - Mali - 1969

Two shepherds, on their right a negroid woman. The latter has a white hairstyle and a white loincloth. The breasts are visible. She carries a basket in her right hand and an unspecified object in her left. The figures on the left are less precise. Between the two is an indeterminable circular structure. The woman is 0.16 m tall. Red and white ochre painting.
Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - Ozeneare - 1993

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