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Basketry and Pottery

Like other California native peoples, basketry was an important and practical Cahuilla craft. They gathered native grasses and leaves to create coiled baskets of different shapes and sizes. Grasses formed the center of the core that was coiled, and these were held in place by flattened Juncas rush or sumac splints.

In addition the Cahuilla are distinguished as being one of the few California tribes that manufactured pottery. Archeologists comment that basketry was the most practical container craft for California tribes who were regularly on foot, moving from hunting area to hunting area, and as it would not break when dropped, served the mobile lifestyle very well. On the other hand, pottery was being widely made in the southwestern region of what is now the Sonoran area of Arizona and New Mexico, and it was this link to the eastern tribes that enabled the Cahuilla to learn about pottery as a craft.

Their pottery was made by coiling clay ropes, and smoothing it into then walled, light vessels that were then decorate with geometric patterns, similar to body tattoos seen in other tribes. The clay fired red, and decorations were painted on in yellow ochre, which burns to a deeper red than the clay itself. Black lines were sometimes also applied using a crushed mineral for paint.