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The owner's grandfather acquired this basket in 1910 during a trip throught the White Mountains of Arizona. The basket was old when purchased and more probably dates to somewhere around 1890. The condition of the basket is excellent and the weave is tight with three strong band design elements encircling the basket.
Burden baskets were handed down in a clan from woman to woman. The were created for family use in the chore of securing food and carrying it home from a distance, together with fuel.
This twine weave basket is constructed of two U-shaped wooden rods with a third interior stabilizer rod. Sumac, willow, cottonwood and in earlier times, mulberry, were preferred materials for the burden baskets. Bark was left on the sewing splints in order to create design elements in the baskets. Fringed buckskin strips ovelay the four rods on the outside. The base of the basket is covered with a plain buckskin panel. The rim is finished with two wood rods and a third metal rod secured to the basket body with buckskin stitching, a typical reinforcement technique in Apache burden baskets and water jars. Two yucca fiber cordage loops are attached to two of the buckskin strips.
