Hair-Brush (Sacaton) Grass Roots
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1885
label: Collection Date
content: 1885
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. Edward Palmer
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Illus.: "Hndbk. of N. Amer. Indians, Vol. 10, Southwest, Fig. 6, pg. 156." See also NMNH Department of Botany Edward Palmer collections web exhibit page on this artifact: http://botany.si.edu/colls/palmer/narrative_page.cfm?Narr=12&locality= . Identified there: "The Akimel O'odham crafted this hairbrush, used primarily by women, from the grass species Sporobolus wrightii (Ezell 1983). To make the brush, the artisan gathered grass roots (called "culms") in the autumn, folded them over, and wrapped them with fiber cord (Ezell 1983). The brush shown is simpler in design than other grass brushes made by the Akimel O'odham, many of which possess elaborate patterns and weave (Wissler 1916). The first Europeans to explore Arizona observed abundant, coarse bunch grasses called Sacaton (which means bunch grass in Spanish) growing on the banks of the Gila River .... Sporobolus wrightii is one of these bunch grasses."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 7 Jul 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Arizona, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Pima (Akimel O'odham; Akimel O'otham)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 015930
label: USNM Number
content: E76044-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Hair Brush