Storage Basket Item Number: Nd603 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Rectangular cedar basket, flared, decreasing in size to the bottom. Tightly coiled with a slat bottom and a rim of narrow width bundles around which cedar is not coiled. Coiled cherry bark with row of beaded grass finishes top edge. Imbricated design of three horizontal zig zag rows of red and black cherry bark and yellow grass are along the sides.

History Of Use

May have been a cooking basket, as it is tightly coiled, waterproof type. Boiling in watertight baskets was done by filling the basket with water and dropping heated stones into it. Food was placed in the boiling water.

Cultural Context

cooking; storage

Narrative

Basket traded in area between Nanaimo and Jervis Inlet (collector's notes). There are only a few islands in this area to which this information may refer. They are: Thormanby islands, Lasqueti Island, Texada Island, Nelson Island and Hardy Island. A map showing village sites of the Northern Coast Salish in the Handbook of North American Indians, shows that the smaller Thormanby island had a village site that was known as sxwelap 'deep furrow'. Village sites are not indicated for the other islands previously mentioned (see Kennedy and Bouchard 1990:442-3).

Item History

What

Name
Storage Basket
Identification Number
Nd603
Type of Item
basket
Material
grass, cherry bark and cedar root
Manufacturing Technique
coiled, imbricated, beaded and sewn
Overall
height 26.8 cm, width 41.6 cm, depth 32.6 cm

Who

Culture
Coast Salish: Shishalh ?
Previous Owner
Anthony A. Kingscote
Received from
Anthony A. Kingscote (Donor)

Where

Holding Institution
MOA: University of British Columbia
Made in
British Columbia, Canada
Collected in
Jervis Inlet, British Columbia, Canada ?

When

Creation Date
during 1914
Collection Date
during 1914
Ownership Date
before September 11, 1978
Acquisition Date
on September 11, 1978

Other

Item Classes
basketry
Condition
good
Accession Number
0485/0002