Collectors and others interested in baskets of Southern California Indian tribes are invited to a free basket identification workshop conducted by David Earle at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 7.

Collectors who are bringing baskets from their personal collections must register for the workshop. Pre-registration is not necessary for visitors who do not bring baskets.

Earle will identify baskets and teach collectors and other interested visitors how to distinguish the details that make identification possible. He will show samples of basket-making materials, discuss the care and handling of baskets and emphasize the importance of preserving open lands for collecting plants used in basket-making.

Baskets can be identified in respect to fabrication materials and the styles associated with particular southern California native groups and communities.

“The so-called Mission baskets were made by the southern California groups - the Gabrielino/Tongva, Luiseño, Juaneño, Serrano, Cahuilla, Cupeño, and Kumeyaay Mission basketry includes a number of different styles. They differ from those made by Indian basket weavers in the Great Basin and in other parts of California,” according to Earle.

Identification techniques will focus on unique characteristics of southern California baskets. Identifying the plant types used in baskets will also be stressed.

Earle teaches anthropology at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster. He has long been interested in native basketry, both historic and prehistoric. He has studied native plant materials used in southern California Mission Indian baskets and has specialized in the identification of these materials in finished baskets.

He consults on archaeology and California native culture and ethnohistory for federal agencies, native tribes and private firms and has served as staff archaeologist at the Lancaster City Museum. Collectors bringing baskets must pre-register by Aug. 25. Contact Jolene Redvale at 307-2669 ext. 252.

Copyright © 2008 Yucaipa News Mirror

Posted on August 14th, 2008 by hunwut
Filed under: Culture, Museum