birchbark; sweetgrass; black thread; porcupine quills natural and dyed yellow, green, red, blue/purple and orange; split root (cedar or spruce).

The bottom of the box is a oval piece of birch bark. The sides are built up with rows of bunched sweetgrass wrapped with dark thread, followed by a panel of birch bark decorated with thistle motifs, followed by more sweetgrass. The top two centimetres of the box is slightly smaller than the rest, acting as a lip upon which the top sits. The lid is an oval piece of birchbark decorated with floral motifs and double tacks of natural quills, edged with sweetgrass bunches wrapped with dark thread. The sweetgrass parts are edged with a single line of split root.

Thistles and floral motifs

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP)

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, May 6 2010.