There is a whole group of Ancestral Pueblo people called the Basketmakers because of their superior basket making skills. The basket pictured, most likely dating from A.D. 450-750, shows the intricacy of woven patterns created by people in the Mesa Verde region as they began to transition from a hunter-gatherer to an agricultural lifestyle. Not only were baskets used for collecting seeds, nuts, fruits and berries, but they were sometimes coated with pitch on the inside, which allowed them to hold water and tolerate heat. This one is remarkably well-preserved.
Sifter baskets like this are still made in the Pueblos, mostly for the tourist and collector trade. The best are regular award-winners.
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nps.gov/privacy.htm">National Parks Service</a>, US Department of the Interior
Uploaded from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20071009041305/http://www.nps.gov/archive/meve/edu_resources/artifacts/pages/i39c_jpg.htm">Basket</a> <span style="font-size: 0.95em; font-weight: bold; color:#555; position: relative;">(in English)</span>. <i>Mesa Verde National Park</i>. U.S. National Park Service. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nps.gov/archive/meve/edu_resources/artifacts/pages/i39c_jpg.htm">the original</a> on <span class="mw-formatted-date" title="2007-10-09">2007-10-09</span>. Retrieved on <span class="mw-formatted-date" title="2012-04-21">2012-04-21</span>.