Recent Analyses of Fibre Perishables from Promontory Caves, UT

Elizabeth Ann Goldberg

doi:10.29173/comp50

Abstract

Recent analyses of the Promontory Caves assemblages by Ives and colleagues (Billinger and Ives 2015; Hallson 2017; Ives 2014; Ives et al. 2014; Reilly 2015) have renewed interest in Julian Steward’s (1937) hypothesis that the thirteenth century inhabitants of the Promontory Caves have ties to Northern Dene language-speakers, thus shedding new light on Dene migration and Apachean origins. These studies have largely focused on the similarities between Northern Dene and Promontory moccasins, but other artifact classes—namely fibre perishables—have yet to be examined. This paper synthesizes conclusions drawn from the author’s prior research into matting and cordage recovered from the Promontory Caves in comparison to a neighboring Fremont cordage assemblage from the site of Lakeside Cave, with some suggestive differences emerging from material, structure, and knot types. These preliminary results suggest avenues for future comparative analyses of the Promontory perishable artifacts.

Highlights

Perishable artifacts are rarely preserved in the archaeological record, but when they are they provide archaeologists with a great deal of information about the people who made them (Adovasio 2010; Hallson 2017)
This paper presents a preliminary examination of the Promontory Caves fibre perishable traditions in the form of cordage and matting, followed by comparisons with those of Northern and Southwestern Dene language-speaking groups, to determine both how Southwestern Dene perishable technologies relate to their Northern cousins and if the fibre perishables of the Promontory Caves, like the moccasins, suggest the presence of Apachean ancestors
This paper focuses on cordage and matting samples from the site of Promontory Cave 1 recovered by Ives and colleagues (Billinger and Ives 2015; Hallson 2017; Ives 2014; Ives et al 2014; Reilly 2015)

Summary

Introduction

Perishable artifacts are rarely preserved in the archaeological record, but when they are they provide archaeologists with a great deal of information about the people who made them (Adovasio 2010; Hallson 2017). The minute construction attributes of basketry and other complex perishable artifacts, such as moccasins, tend to be culturally conservative and culturally determined, and useful in identifying different populations in the archaeological record, along with other lines of evidence (Adovasio 2010). A variety of ethnographic sources were consulted to compile comparative data on the general technological and stylistic attributes of Northern Dene and Southwestern Dene cordage and matting (i.e., Adovasio and Illingworth 2014b; Clark 1974; Cruikshank 1979; Gifford 1940; Honigmann 1954; McFadyen 1966; McKennan 1959, 1965; Osgood 1936, 1937, 1970, 1971; Tanner 1944, 1968, 1982; Thompson 1972; Whiteford 1988). Due to the generalized description of many perishable technologies in the literature, the resulting data are uneven but facilitate some broad generalizations about Dene cordage and matting construction and use that are instructive for assessing archaeological materials

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Discussion

Conclusion