I saw a video of Japanese sandal making, and I wondered that Native American's with access to grasses did wonderful work with baskets and containers, yet I don't seem to find any North American examples of grass sandals..., I wonder if they had them and they didn't survive (so we don't really know they existed), or they simply didn't develop them as there were sufficient deer to make mocs or they did without. Any thoughts?
LD
It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
Posts: 1752 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004
LD -Preservation is certainly an issue and does lead to a sampling error. However, in the dry caves of the west, floral cordage sandals have been recovered. In at least one case these were made with yucca fiber, and date to some 7,000 yrs. BP. If memory serves, there are older examples in this region, but I would need to dig through my files to provide a citation for this.
At Meadowcroft, Adovasio documented evidence of woven fabric of floral material. The earliest components of this site have been dated to 18,000 CYBP.
The use of plant fiber for foot-ware was likely more common in certain areas of the west (such as the Great Basin), dependent on the availability of faunal resources during certain time periods.
loyalist dave, i have in fact found a single grass fiber sandel in an old cliff dwelling in new mexico this was back in 68, damm dog got hold of it befor i could get it to the science types dog chew`d it to peices. but they did have them way back when .
Dave check around with southwestern and California tribes. Maybe Nevada, I seem to remember seeing examples of woven sandles from those areas. They may not be exactly what you are refering to but were woven from fibers, maybe inner tree bark. hope this helps some, YMHS Birdman
Posts: 590 | Location: south eastern Pa | Registered: 31 October 2004
The museum at the Walnut Canyon Cliff Dwellings near Flagstaff, AZ has grass sandals found in the ruins in their exhibit. Quite a bit of woven material and cordage has survived there.
Posts: 367 | Location: Clovis, New Mexico | Registered: 21 March 2005
I have seen woven game-capturing nets (for rabbits?) and woven sandals said to be Anasazi "Ancient Ones" relics from Southern Utah.
I can't say they were 'grass' but the were in a glass case and my imression is they were vegetable fiber of some sort (reeds, grass, sagebrush bark, etc. etc. etc.).
There are several documentated tribes here on the west coast that used natural fibers (grass, stem, etc.) Here in Oregon I know of such native americans that made foot wear from such matrials. Mostly reeds, cattail plants, etc. that were used. All the way from the northern area of Wash to middle Calif. tribes used such materials. In my home area of Oregon the Modoc were some of the tribes that used such foot wear, as were the tribes located along the Columbia River.
LD and others - I am aware that the Northern Calif coastal tribes used woven "grass" sandals as a regular thing. Not really grass, but a sedge or marsh rush that is far more stout than common grass. Also, here in Hawaii the old folk made woven (actually, braided) sandals from the leaf of the Ti plant (not beverage tea). If gathered dry, after falling naturally off the plant, this material is remarkably stout and was used for a wide variety of needs - braided cordage, sandals, roof thatching, and even packages for goods. I figure that most earth-based people had foodwear made of what they could get, so if it be grass or rush, that is what they figured out how to use.
Boone
Posts: 160 | Location: Volcano, Hawaii | Registered: 22 September 2008
Dave, its a bit obscure, but a great book on the subject is " Treading the Past, Sandals of the Anasazi". It is published by the Utah Museum of Natural History in association with the University of Utah Press, Salt Lake. It has dozens and dozens of color photographs of their extensive collection of grass woven sandals, and an in depth, illustrated chapter detailing exactly how they were woven...good enough thet a guy could try it himself if he wanted to. I believe the Anasazi wove and wore evolving styles of them for about a thousand years...a quick net search of the title will pull up quite a few very affordable copies for sale...as a matter of fact I just recently picked up a copy for my self...and I like it a lot. TCA
This message has been edited. Last edited by: T.Albert,
Posts: 362 | Location: Illinois River Valley | Registered: 02 January 2007
TC, Since you have the book, do they know the plant(s) from which the sandals were woven?
Fremont Indian State Park is another place to see if you are in the "area." The park is quite near the confluence of I-15 and I-70 in south central Utah. They were widening the freeway and cut into the largest Fremont village ever discovered. They built the freeway anyway, but the mitigation for disturbing the site was to put up a museum/visitor center and make it a state park. Lots of trails with petroglyphs and such, and a good museum.
Sparks, to answer what plant was used...it seems the Anasazi predominately used yucca...whole, split, woven, braided, pounded and spun into fiber cordage etc etc etc...but all done with yucca. TCA
Posts: 362 | Location: Illinois River Valley | Registered: 02 January 2007
