Skip Navigational Links Research and Collections Home Return to CU Museum Homepage Planning Your Visit Exhibits Research and Collections Calendar Education Museum and Field Studies About the Museum Gift Store Get Involved! Search Research and Collections
Databases Zoology Paleontology Entomology Botany and University Herbarium Anthropology Research and Collections Sub-Navigational Menu
Image of two dog-hair sashes - one cream-colored and one brown
Dog-hair sashes. Ancestral Pueblo. Obelisk Cave, Northeastern Arizona. ca. 650 A.D. Top: UCM-10978, Bottom: UCM-10979
University of Colorado Museum of Natural History Object of the Month!

Dog-hair sashes

These dog-hair sashes are two of six from Obelisk Cave in the Prayer Rock District of northeastern Arizona. Made by Ancestral Pueblo people, dating to the Basketmaker III period (ca A.D. 500 to 700), they were found buried beneath the floor of the cave, tied together with a cord made from white dog hair. In 1540, Spanish explorer Coronado reported that at Hawikuh (Zuni Pueblo) dogs were used for "wool" and were living in the Pueblo houses.. The history of this use of dogs and their special treatment by Ancestral Pueblo peoples is documented by these Basketmaker sashes and by the recovery of dog burials in Ancestral Pueblo sites. One of the most famous of these were two dogs buried with humans at White Dog Cave in Arizona, also dating to the Basketmaker period. Two breeds of dogs may have been kept by Ancestral Pueblos, one small and short-haired, the other large, shaggy and white. These sashes were excavated by former CU Museum Curator, Earl H. Morris.

See these unique objects and the thoughtful comments they inspired at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History's exhibition "Object Conversations" open now.

For previous Objects of the Month, check out our Archive.
Horizontal Black Rule
University of Colorado Museum of Natural History Logo Sign up for the CU Museum Update! It's FREE!
For general questions or comments, please email cumuseum@colorado.edu.
Send technical questions and comments to the Webmaster.
©2003 CU Museum, UCB 218, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309  tel: (303)492-6892 		Accredited by the American Association of Museums
Black Bar