Museum of Peoples and Cultures

Exhibitions

The artifacts collected by Pectol and Lee created a sensation among archaeologists of the time. Among the most celebrated artifacts recovered were a one-of-a-kind cradle board nestling a remarkable Fremont figurine and a deer headdress from a Late Prehistoric hunting or shamanic costume (see below).

This exhibition and its accompanying catalogue constitue the most comprehensive public revelation the Pectol-Lee collection has ever seen. The famous cradle board and the deer headdress are central features of the exhibition and are the focus of two articles in the catalogue. This exhibition also highlights recent discoveries about the baskets in the collection.

Capitol Reef

The Capitol Reef region had a rich, multicultural prehistory. First the Paleoindian hunters and gatherers appeared in this region about 10,000 years ago in pursuit of large game such as mammoth and giant bison. After the extinction of these huge animals, Archaic hunting and gathering groups traveled the area for almost 8,000 years in search of the animals seen in the area today—deer, mountain sheep, and elk. Much later, from at least around the early first century BC, Fremont and Anasazi farmers used their knowledge of the local climate to "make the desert bloom" with corn, beans, and squash. Some time after about AD 1250, Numic peoples ancestral to the Ute and Paiute began to migrate into the area. When European explorers reached Capitol Reef in the 17th century, they found nomadic Ute and Paiute still living there.

Baskets

Baskets provide archaeologists with a wealth of clues that help solve the mysteries of prehistory. However, due to their fragility and the perishable materials from which they are made, baskets rarely survive the passage of centuries. One of the most remarkable things about the Pectol-Lee collection is the large number and wide variety of baskets, many of which are over 700 years old. Baskets enable archaeologists to learn about the lifestyles of their makers—what they used baskets for, how they made them, and what other groups they shared ideas with.

Sharing Ideas

By identifying basket-making techniques and noting evidence of their use among different cultures, it is possible to discover what groups interacted with one another. The Fremont and Anasazi both occupied the Capitol Reef area during the same period. Some of the baskets in the Pectol-Lee collection are made with techniques used by both the Fremont and the Anasazi. It seems reasonable that one group would have learned a given technique from the other. However, the question remains: who had the idea first? The Fremont and Anasazi living in this area may have interacted and shared both basket-making and design techniqes, as well as other skills and ideas.

CRADLE BOARD WITH FIGURINE
Willow, rabbitbruch, cotton, animal pelts, clay, yucca
Fremont, ca. AD 1100
CARE 192

This cradle board with its large Fremont-style figurine is unparalleled in the archaeological record. It is smaller than a normal cradle board and probably had a special function. The exact function of it is unknown, but ethnographic examples of similar artifacts among the Hopi, Zuni, Cochiti, and Pomo suggest that it may have been used as fertility fetish believed to bring upon women the power to have children.

DEER HEADDRESS
Deer hide
Late Prehistoric, ca. AD 1500
CARE 79

This headdress was originally part of a larger costume comprising the entire face of a deer and perhaps the remaining portion of the deer's own complete body hide. The headdress would have only been brought to completion when worn by a person. It may have been used by shamans during hunting expeditions as camouflage or worn during ceremonial dances. In either case, theories hold that, when worn, the headdress became a portent of power in which the power of the animal itself was granted to the wearer.

DECORATED BASKETRY BOWLS
Willow, yucca, rabbitbrush
Fremont (400–1300)
CARE 44, 35, 43