Olla Basket

This basket was likely made by a woman on or near the Fort McDowell Reservation, formed in 1903 from a small portion of the ancestral homelands of Yavapai peoples in what is now Arizona. The weaver would have worked for months coiling willow twigs to structure the basket, while stitching the pattern with lightcolored willow and dark-colored devil’s claw fibers. The designs include people, dogs or horses, and saguaro cacti, and were meant to appeal to non-Native buyers.