Primitive Technology

by David Wescott

  There appear to be two styles of decoys. One was finished by pinning a fresh duck skin to a body of tule (shown in Wheat), and adding the stuffed head. The other type (from Lovelock Cave) has the whole figure made from tule, with paint and feathers applied over it to define the species of duck (or goose). The following instructions are for making the second type, leaving decoration up to the user.

  Decoys were commonly set out in a marshland where they would attract a flight of ducks to land. A concealed hunter then pulled up a net, weighted with stones (so as to sink out of sight), and attached on the opposite bank, ensnaring the flock. Other methods included shooting with arrows equipped with 'skip bomb' heads which would skip along the surface of the water and into the swimming group of birds; and nets thrown into the landing or leaving flock.

  Tule decoys made in recent times have been primarily for decoration, but there is no reason a motivated primitive hunter couldn't give the old ways a try.

  All photos and artifacts for this article provide by Jim Riggs

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  A PAIUTE TULE DUCK DECOY

  (Based on a model made by Davin George)

  1. Tie off a 2' bunch of tules, 2" in diameter in the middle with dampened cattail leaf, twisted into a cord.

  2. Twine into 3 bundles with cattail cord, about 3" from middle. The 1st bundle should use half of the tules, the second bundle use 2/3 of what remains, and the 3rd bundle uses what's left.

  3. Bend the bundle in the middle and continue on across to the other side, twining into 3 parts, going from smallest to largest.

  4. Twine a 2nd row of 6 bundles across the whole ducks body, about 3" from the 1st row. Then tie the whole body together another 3" from this 2nd row with a cattail cord. Sculpt the body to shape, making sure the base is open and wide. Cut off the excess tail at an angle.

  5. Use tule to make the basic head shape, with each coil of tule passing through the top of the body. Make sure the neck sticks up only about 2". Then wrap with dampened cattail leaf or split tule until the desired shape is achieved. Finish by running the end of the wrapper into the body and tying it off. Add paint and feathers as desired.

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  Type I - style split twig figure. After Jennings, 1980.

  THE ANCIENT ART OF SPLIT WILLOW SCULPTURE

  By Tom Elpel, Photos By Upcountry

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  People have always loved constructing useful and decorative objects from soft and pliable willow twigs and branches.

  "Archaeologists have found split-willow figures of deer made by Southwest cultures thousands of years ago", Jim Riggs, of Wallowa, Oregon, an instructor at a recent primitive living skills gathering, told students.

  "Archaeologists believe the figures may have first been used in hunting rituals; in later times they were likely used as kids' toys", said Riggs. He displayed two different styles of willow figures and then led the class through the procedure of making them. The instructions that follow are the steps for making these simple figures.

  Step One

  Select a slender, green willow twig at least 30 inches in length. It should not have any branches growing off of it. Run your fingers down the willow to strip the leaves off. Then cut an inch or so off the small end of the willow. Stick your fingernails into the end of the twig where you cut it, and split it apart. Split it down the length of the willow as shown in Fig. 1. If the split becomes uneven with one half of the twig bigger than the other, then bend the fatter side more sharply as you work; this will re-position the split back to the center of the twig. Split the length of the willow, but stop about 1 and 1/2 inches from the big end.

  Fig. 1 Splitting the willow

  Step Two

  Kink the willow twig 90 degrees about 1 and 1/2 inches from the end, right where the split ends in the willow (Fig. 2). This first section forms the back legs of the deer; the next section becomes the backbone. Leave about 2 inches for the backbone, with both halves of the willow together. Then kink only the piece that is on top down at 90 degrees to begin shaping the front leg. Make the front leg the same length as the back leg, then kink the willow back on itself, so that the bark is showing. The end of the willow will stick straight up.

  Step Three

  The "bottom half" of the backbone which is sticking straight out (or straight up from the back leg, as in Fig. 2) is used to fill in the body. Wrap it around the front and back legs again and again until you run out of twig. Then tuck the end of the twig back inside the body to hold it in place (Fig. 3). The other half twig is kinked at about 1 and 1/2 inches up from the body to form the neck. Kink it back on itself so that the bark is showing. Bring the end back down and wrap it around the body to lock it in place (Fig 4). Bring the willow back up to the top of the neck and bend it over the stub that forms the neck, shaping the head to look like the number "4". The tricky part is to hold everything together as you work As Riggs said, "It would help to have a little hand at the end of each finger." Your work should now look like the example in Fig. 5.

  Fig. 2 Bending the split willow to form the back and legs.

  Fig. 3 Wrap the entire body and tuck the end into the wrap.

  Step Four

  The remaining willow is wrapped around the neck and back to the nose. Start at the nose and wrap around the head again and again until the whole head is wrapped. Next, wrap the neck with the remaining length of willow and tuck the end under part of the wrap to lock it in place (Fig. 6). The action of wrapping from the head around to the neck will cause the head to turn to one side or another, depending on which direction you are wrapping. Riggs said, "Archaeologists found that roughly 75% of the split willow figures they found had the heads turned one way and the other 25% had the heads turned the other way. Archaeologists once thought there was some ritual significance to which direction the head was turned". But Riggs pointed out that the head turns automatically as you work, and suggested that each person just naturally works around the head from one side or the other. In our own test, my wife and I found that all of hers consistently turned one way and all of mine consistently turned the other.

  Fig. 4 The neck is approx. 1" to 2 "long.

  Step Five

  At this point your split willow figure is finished. You may, however have too much or not enough length of twig to finish the job. If there is extra then just cut it off. If it is short then it may look just fine with only part of the neck or head wrapped. The measurements suggested here for different parts of the body are only approximations. As you make more split willow figures you will learn to adjust the proportions of the body for the length of the willow you work with.

  Split willow figures are quick to make. After you stumble through the first one or two then the rest are easy. At the end of our hour-long class we had quite a herd of deer around us. And as I write this article, a new herd is forming on my desk.

  Split willow figures are fun to make for adults or kids, and make great Christmas ornaments.

  Fig. 5 The head is shaped as a simple "four".

  Fig. 6 Wrap the neck, and the figure is complete.

  Type II - style plit twig figure. After Jennings, 1980.

  Mogollan Plaited Yucca Sandals

  Figure 1. Plaited Sandals from Tularosa and Cordova Caves: variations on a theme. Lower right example is likely a winter type; side loops may have held grass or bark insulation by means of cross ties. (Drawings by Gustaf Dalstrom in Martin 1952)

  PLAITED WHOLE LEAF YUCCA SANDALS

  By Paul Douglas Campbell

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  A pair of Mogollon sandals can be completed in a couple of hours. But it was their simple beauty which first caught my attention. The clean diagonal weave of a thousand year old sandal with frayed remnants of toe and heel tie hung in a dimly lit glass case of the basement of the Southwest Museum. My vague browsing stopped short, awed by the mind which saw in the leaf of the yucca this beautifully plaited sandal. The crafting in turn reflected the character of the plant whose long tough leaves grace many a moun
tainside of the southwest. In the spring thick stalks replete with cream-white blossoms grow from the yucca center and both stalk and flowers provided food for Indian groups from the Cahuilla to the Pueblo.

  I studied the incased sandal for an hour or more until I captured its secret. Luckily, the yucca plant does not have to die so we might be shod. We need only four leaves per sole plus another for the ties. Yuccas are widespread throughout the American Southwest. The Mogollon used the banana yucca (Yucca baccata) common in southwestern New Mexico where many of these sandals have been uncovered in ancient caves. In Los Angeles I used the yucca common to the Los Angeles region called simply yucca or Our Lord's Candle (Yucca whipplei). The banana yucca leaf is thicker and softer but the Los Angeles yucca suffices.

  Comfortable and durable sandals can be plaited from the unprocessed and green leaves of the yucca. However, as the leaves dry over the weeks, they shrink, and open spaces appear in the weave (especially with the thinner whipplei leaves). This can be overcome by lightly pounding the leaves with a smooth stone against a log or also using two leaves paired for each plait, doubling the number of leaves. Archaeologists digging the Mogollon caves of west-central New Mexico felt most of the sandals they found were made from essentially whole unprocessed leaves but some seemed to have been made from leaves which had been pounded or crushed. They also found sandals where the leaves had been doubled.

  Cutting green fibrous leaves from a live yucca (especially the Yucca whipplei) with a sharp stone or knife is trying work, and the razor edged neighboring leaves can lacerate your hand in the process. Dead dried leaves on the other hand pull out easily. The ends of the yucca leaves, one too curved and too wide and the other too sharp, can be trimmed off by holding the edge on a stationary stone. Dried leaves should be soaked for about twenty-four hours before you begin bending them to shape; otherwise, they crack.

  The sandal described is the standard sandal found by archaeologists in Mogollon sites. Of twenty-seven sandals recovered from four Mogollon caves of west-central New Mexico during excavations by the Chicago Natural History Museum's 1952 expedition under Paul D. Martin, twenty-four were of plaited whole yucca leaves. Twice that number of whole leaf plaited sandals had been found earlier by the museum in Tularosa and Cordova caves from the same west-central New Mexico region—all on tributaries of the Gila River. Generally archaeologists found no difference in the manufacture of left or right sandals, but some from Tularosa Cave were more rounded in front on one side or the other so that lefts could be distinguished from rights. A simpler version of these woven sandals with only three plaits or leaves was also found. Smaller, split-leaf varieties had apparently been worn by children.

  Anasazi sandals, such as from Pueblo III sites of northeastern Arizona, are also plaited but of very narrow elements. However, the whole leaf Mogollon style has been found in the southern Anasazi Pueblo IV sites of Camp Verde and Canyon Creek. Plaited sandals first appear amongst the Anasazi in Basketmaker III sites and are of the wider or whole Ieaf element;

  A Mogollon-style plaited fiber sandal apparently of found in a dry cave on Anacapa Island. If true, this the most bark is in the possession of the Santa Barbara Museum of common sandal of the ancient Mogollon of New Mexico was Natural History. Amazingly, the sandal is said to have been probably worn by a Chumash Indian of Southern California.

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  The Secret Revealed

  I have found seven simple steps to a completed sandal:

  1) Bend a leaf approximately in the middle, perpendicularly, right over left, making a right angle open to the left. Now bend the left side—the base of the angle— under and parallel to the first bent half, leaving an approximately one to two inch perpendicular section between them as shown below.

  2) Bend a second leaf once in the middle, right side over left, bringing the two halves side by side in a near parallel arrangement and overlapping the perpendicular section of the first leaf between the two parallel elements. Repeat steps one and two for a second set of leaves. (If you are doubling each leaf and the sandal is for a long adult foot, it may be advantageous to overrun the leaves of each doubled pair making a longer bundle, thinner at each end.)

  3) Face the two sets diagonally and begin to loosely plait them, using the left set as weft into the right warp. The pattern is first leaf (the right leaf of the left set) over, under, over, under. Next leaf (the second from the right) under two, over two. The next or third leaf is over two, under one; and finally the last leaf goes under one, over two which will be the pattern for all subsequent weaves.

  4) Tighten the plaiting completed as much as you can— this is most important. Then continue with your weave, pulling and tightening after each weaver has been passed through the warp, bent under one, over two, from the left and over one, under two, from the right, bending each leaf at a ninety degree angle and pulling tight, until the leaves are used up. To keep the weave from unraveling you might tie a thin strip of yucca around the completed end.

  5) Measure your foot to the piece and bend over excess at the loose end to form the heel; mash it down forcefully and put something heavy to hold it that way while you cut a one quarter inch to one half inch wide strap to pass through two side weaves about two inches from the back of the heel (see sketches of Mogollon sandals). This strap holds down the extra material which overlaps the heel and also forms an instep brace. Secure it in front of the foot with a square knot. Trim excess from the loose ends of the heel overlap.

  6) Cut an approximately one eighth inch wide piece for the toe strap and place it under the first long warp element in the center front, bringing it around the second and third toes and securing it to the instep brace with a square knot, adjusting to your foot all the while. Keep the ends of the straps wet to facilitate tying. The straps themselves dry fairly stiff.

  7) Cut the final ankle tie string one sixteenth to one eighth inch wide and soften it by wetting and holding the ends and running it a couple of times back and forth around a soft surface—a sapling for example. Put the sandal on, adjust it; place the tie over the front of the foot and loop the tie ends over, around and under each side of the instep brace and back over the tie string itself and fasten in a square knot at the back of your ankle; or just bring it from the back, loop around the instep brace and tie it in back. For a custom fit, wear the sandal as much as you can as it dries out over the next few days.

  Figure 2. The simple secret of the plaited Mogollon sandal revealed. While there are variations or "mistakes," this seems to be the classic Mogollon weave. The pattern continues with loose weavers on the left bending under one, over two, and those from the right, over one, under two until completed.

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  MAKE YOUR OWN HIDE GLUE

  By Jim Riggs, © 1991

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  We have included articles about adhesives in this section because they are directly related to fibers under such topics as hafting and fishing gear. Adhesives are used, in many cases, to waterproof or seal attachments of fiber components. ED

  * * *

  In the beginning ...

  Finding a natural glue evaded me for years. On my first to yew bows, short, fat-limbed Northern California style, I used regular Elmer's white glue with not-very-refined sinew. It worked fine, though no glue would have held down those chunky sinew ends forever! But native peoples did not use Elmer's to back their bows or haft points and blades. I wanted something natural, something I could produce myself from raw materials. The ever-present but low-key search was on.

  Well-made hide glue, your very own hide glue, will forever bond you to its wondrous merits.

  Back in the 60's and early 70's there seemed to be neither a lot of people into primitive skills, processes and technologies, nor much awareness of, nor contact among, those of us who were. Nor was there a lot of good, specifically written "how-to" information. The old Ben Hunt books had their limitations! In our "isolated compartments" we ferreted out what information we could and experimented along, trail an
d error, having to solve needs and problems mostly via our own ingenuities. In 1967 Larry Olsen's Outdoor Survival Skills was published and, figuratively at least, initiated the more recent and widespread revival of interest in aboriginal skills. Numerous newer books, Abo gatherings and networking have made a plethora of knowledge and information readily available. Nowadays one can learn in a single article or workshop methods and skills that have taken many of us 20 years or more to figure out on our own.

  I was living in a little log cabin two miles up a trail in the Southern Oregon Cascades immersed in a variety of primitive projects. Periodically, after running into enough dead-ends or accumulating enough questions, I'd make a trip out to do some library research. References to glue and binding agents were generally brief and ambiguous: pitch, pitch and charcoal, other plant juices, asphaltum, fish skin, sturgeon noses, bladders and something from along the backbone, bone joints, cartilage, sinew, antler, hooves and hide. Atthetime, I tended to amalgamate all of these into a somewhat ephemeral, surrealistic vision similar to the Macbeth witches' "Double double toil and trouble, fire burn, cauldron bubble." Gee, maybe eye of newt and toe of frog would make glue too!