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North America Northwest Coast Pacific Northwest Pierce County Washington State Western United States Western Washington

Notes

Date notes: Date range given is an estimate based on similarities of the weir structure to Ozette (300-500 years ago) and the Conway wetsite (dated 670 +/- 75 BP)

Description

Discovered at Wapato Creek Fish Weir (45-PI-47), excavated by David A. Munsell. Hat is in two pieces (see Condition tab). The following description is summarized from page 51 of Munsell, David A. (1976) Wapato Creek Fish Weir Site 45PI47 Tacoma, Washington. In: Croes, Dale R. (ed.) The Excavation of Water-Saturated Archaeological Sites (Wet Sites) On the Northwest Coast of North America pp 45-57: "The hat was mixed in with organic debris caught in the weir. Construction is of western red cedar, plain twined and conical in form. A liner is attached to the outer hat via the liner's warps. The warps are bound together at the cone point for 5 cm, then plain twined for 6.5 cm at which they turn back on themselves at 18 cm, from point of crown, for 6.5 cm, leaving the long warps protruding and free of attachment. The outer hat is plain twined, starting with the warps in the checker weave for a distance of 2 cm. The warps are then further split and twining commences." This hat was treated with polythylene glycol in the manner described by Seborg (1962). Soil matrix was removed via a fine spray of water. Specimens were then soaked in ethanol for 2 days to reduce trapped water. After removal from the ethanol bath, specimens were soaked in a 2:1 aqueous solution of 1,000 molecular weight polyethylene glycol for 2 to 4 days. After this treatment, specimens were placed on wire racks to dry for approximately two weeks. Four years later, the specimens had dried out and were treated again. The treatment has stained and darkened this specimen. DESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS: On June 29, 2006, Archaeology staff used a scalpel blade to carefully remove a 0.6g sample of the hat in order to determine species identification and to get a radiocarbon date. The sample was selected because it was part of the unattached portion of the hat, and represented pieces of the warp and the weft. The sample was sent to Sissel Johannessen, paleobotanist, Demeter Research. Please see L.183 in Past Perfect. Photos of the hat, before and after removal of the sample can be found at I:\Archaeology\1983-72. L.Phillips, 7/13/2006. The above mentioned sample was returned by Sissel Johannessen, Demeter Research on 8/17/2006. The sample, 0.4g upon return, was found to match fibers of Western redcedar in a comparative collection. A black "gummy" material substance was found to be applied to the hat. Johannessen does not think this is a result of rot or discoloration by water, but rather a tar-like substance applied overall. This substance may or may not effect radiocarbon dating. See Johannessen, 2006. Photos of the returned sample can be found at I:\Archaeology\1983-72. K. Meyers 10/04/06. The 0.4g sample returned from Demeter Research was sent to BetaAnalytic for solvent extraction, SEM, and AMS dating on 10/09/2006. See loan # L.187 in Past Perfect. K. Meyers 10/09/2006. A radiocarbon date was successfully obtained for the cedar bark hat, sample 1983-72/1SA1. It was assigned a laboratory number of Beta-222206 by Beta Analytic. An uncalibrated age of 420 +/- 40 years BP was obtained. When the radiocarbon age was intercepted with a calibration curve a date of Cal AD1450 AD (Cal BP 500) was obtained. The range for the radiocarbon date is from Cal AD 1440 to 1480 (Cal BP 510 to 470 BP). D. Sedar 4/30/2009. A photograph and description of this hat was included on page 137 of the catalog for the Seattle Art Museum exhibit "S'abadeb, The Gifts" for which this object was loaned in 2008 (loan # L.210) The title of the book is "S'abadeb The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists," Barbara Brotherton editor, and is located in the Archaeology library in room 29. A. Deep 01/12/2009.