Cordage

Cordage

       Forty-nine fragments of cordage are listed in the Denver University and Woolaroc Museum accession records (table 1). Additional fragments are located at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma.
       The majority of the cordage, with only several exceptions, has been described as being made of grass or yucca. This identification, however, has not been verified. The yucca found in the area today is Yucca glauca commonly known as small soapweed yucca. The terms soapweed is used because the crowns were sometimes used as a soap substitute.(1968, Trees, Woody Vines of the Southwest)
       All of the cordage examined was S twist, down to the right. The non wrapped cordage in the D.U. collection ranges, in width, from 0.15 cm to 0.8 cm. The largest amount (22.5%) is approximately 0.3 cm (table 2 and 3).
       The cordage was predominantly two ply (figure 1a) although one example each of three and four ply was recovered. The three ply bast fiber cordage, (Specimen DU 359), is 18 cm long and 4.5 cm thick and made of yucca. This specimen is "brittle, and doubled on itself, and loosely twisted". (D.U. Accession records, n.d.) The four ply is essentially two, two-ply bast fiber cordage, doubled on itself.
       In addition to plain cordage, two examples of wrapped and braided cordage were recovered.
       One example of three ply braiding, (DU 373), is made of leather strands. This specimen is 16/cm long and 0.2/cm in width. The second braided specimen (WM A35) is also three ply and made of bast fiber cordage. This specimen is 8/cm long and has a diameter of 0.6/cm.
       Examples of feather wrapped, rabbit skin wrapped and cedar wrapped cordage were also recovered. One specimen (D.U. 380) is two ply bast yucca fiber wrapped with rabbit fur. It measures 11cm long by 0.8/cm wide (figure 1b). Another specimen, D.U. 384, 15/cm long by 0.4/cm wide, is also two ply bast fiber wrapped with feathers (Figure 1c). The cedar wrapped cordage is a "bast fiber cordage, probably yucca core with cedar wrapping, 9.5/cm in length, 0.3-0.8/cm in width, center core two ply, wrapped with a one strand fiber 0.4-0.8/cm wide" (D.U. Accession records, DU 372, n.d.a.)