Not Given, Benton County / Columbia River, Bank Of, Washington, United States, North America
Accession Date:
5 Mar 1953
Notes:
From card: "Consists of a withe (3/4" diam.) bent oval and tied at juncture with commercial cord. May be a fish scoop frame for net. Pickering up on the bank of the Columbia River." Letter in accession record dated February 8, 1946 indicates that collector picked object up in Benton County, Washington, along the Columbia River.
Rex Buck, Jr., Patrick Wyena, and Clayton Buck came to Anthropology collections April 20-22, 2015 on a Recovering Voices Community Research Grant. They are members of the Wanapum Band of Priest Rapids, who live in Washington state along the Columbia River. During the research visit the group worked with raw botanical materials to determine which techniques and materials from the Wanapum territory were used to make certain collections objects. (The materials had been collected ahead of the research visit and sent to MSC for freezing to control pests.) Rex Buck removed the bark of a chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) sample and determined that the scoop net frame was most likely made from chokecherry by way of comparison. The group described that their technique for creating bent wooden frames like E387904 was to cut green wood, tie it into shape, and bury it in the ground to the let the wood set. This is in contrast to the technique of bending wood by steaming.
