Basket

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For other uses, see Basket (disambiguation).

Basket of Plums, painting by Pierre Dupuis.

A basket is a container which is traditionally constructed from stiff fibres, which can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehair, baleen, or metal wire can be used. Baskets are generally woven by hand. Some baskets are fitted with a lid, others are left open.

The plant life available in a region affects the choice of material, which in turn influences the weaving technique. Rattan and other members of the Arecaceae or palm tree family, the thin grasses of temperate regions, and broad-leaved tropical bromeliads each require a different method of twisting and braiding to be made into a basket. The practice of basket making has evolved into an art. Artistic freedom allows basket makers a wide choice of colors, materials, sizes, patterns, and details.

Uses

On the left side are live fowl baskets. Directly to the right are flat baskets used for selling shrimp and small fish in Haikou City, Hainan Province, China

Baskets serve utilitarian as well as aesthetic purposes. Some baskets are ceremonial, that is religious, in nature.^[1] While baskets are typically used for storage and transport, specialized baskets are as sieves, for cooking, for processing seeds or grains, for tossing gambling pieces, rattles, fans, fish traps, laundry, and other uses.

History

Archaeological sites in the Middle East show that weaving techniques were used to make mats and possibly also baskets, circa 8000 BCE^{[citation needed]}. Twined baskets date back to 7000 BCE in Oasisamerica.^[1] Baskets made with interwoven techniques were common at 3000 BCE.

The carrying of a basket on the head, particularly by rural women, has long been practised. Representations of this in Ancient Greek art are called Canephorae.

Figurative and literary usage

The phrase "to hell in a handbasket" means to rapidly deteriorate. The origin of this use is unclear. "Basket" is sometimes used as an adjective towards a person who is born out of wedlock.^[2] This occurs more commonly in British English. "Basket" also refers to a bulge in a man's crotch.^[3]

Gallery

Ethiopian woman gathering coffee beans in a basket
Seri Indian pot-shaped basket (Northern Mexico)
Bending vines for basket construction - Pohnpei
Cherokee rivercane basket by Peggy Brennan, Oklahoma
Inuit basket of whale baleen with a walrus ivory finial, Barrow, Alaska
Black ash baby basket by Odawa-Ojibwe Kelly Church, Michigan
Yurok baskets from Redwood National Park area, California
Traditional western Hubei baskets (China)
Wicker and metal fish baskets in Charente-Maritime, France

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 "Hopi Basketry." Northern Arizona Native American Culture Trail. (retrieved 13 Nov 2011)
↑ http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/15969
↑ http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/15969

Sources

Zepeda, Ofelia (1995). Ocean Power: Poems from the Desert. ISBN 0-8165-1541-7.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Basket.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Basket.

Baskets, The Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Prehistoric technology

Architectural

Ceremonial structures	Earliest religious structure Kiva Pyramid Temple

Dwellings	Neolithic architecture British megalith architecture Nordic megalith architecture Burdei Cave Cliff dwelling Dugout Great house Hut Jacal Lean-to Longhouse Neolithic long house Pit-house Pueblitos Pueblo Rock shelter Roundhouse Stilt house Tent

Water management	Check dam Cistern Reservoir Water well

Other	Archaeological features Burnt mound Causewayed enclosure Henge Mead hall Megalithic architectural elements Midden Timber trackway

Tools

Farming	Neolithic Revolution Ard / plough Celt Digging stick Domestication Goad Irrigation Sickle Terracing

Food processing	Fire Basket Granaries Grinding slab Ground stone Hearth Manos Metate Mortar and pestle Pottery Quern-stone Storage pit

Hunting	Arrow Atlatl Bow and arrow Dart Projectile point Snare trap Spear

Toolmaking	Earliest toolmaking Biface Cupstone Hafting Hand axe Lithic core Lithic reduction Prepared-core technique Striking platform Tool stone

Other tools	Adze Awl Axe Blade Bone tool Bow drill Burin Chopper Cleaver Denticulate tool Fire plough Fire-saw Hammerstone Hand axe Knife Quern-stone Rope Scraper Stone tool Weapons Wheel Ancient maritime history

Arts and culture

Material goods	Basket weaving Beadwork Chalcolithic Clothing Clothing and textiles Hides Pottery Weaving

Prehistoric art	Earliest art Cairn Cave painting Cup and ring mark Geoglyph Guardian stone Ideograms List of prehistoric artworks Megalithic art Petroform Petroglyph Petrosomatoglyph Pictogram Rock art Stone circle

Burial	Burial mounds Chamber tomb Cist Dolmen Great dolmen Jar burial Long barrow Passage grave Funeral pyre Megalithic tomb Mummy Rectangular dolmen Ring cairn Simple dolmen Stone box grave Tor cairn Tumulus Unchambered long barrow Unchambered long cairn

Other cultural	Behavioral modernity Evolutionary origin of religions Music archaeology Prehistoric music

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