Wednesday, October 24, 2012

O is for Ohlone

The Ohlone Indians lived along the shoreline of the San Francisco Bay for thousands of years before Europeans came to the area.  Ohlone baskets are extremely rare, in part due to the tribal practice of burning personal possession upon death.  The Oakland Museum commissioned Linda Yamane, a Rumsien Ohlone of the Monterey area, to make a basket for the museum's vast collection.  Featuring 20,000 stitches, several thousand feathers, and 1,200 handcrafted Olivella shell beads, the extremely rare basket took Yamane nearly three years to create.  It is believed that it has been 250 years since this type of ceremonial basket has been made.  Linked to ABC Wednesday.

10 comments:

  1. It's a beautiful basket, a work of art!

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  2. Wow great post..and incredible work of art. The Ohlone Indians also lived along the shore here in Carmel. One of their ceremonial grounds is in the woods near the house where I grew up.

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  3. I'm glad that they still know their traditions. It's gorgeous.

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  4. Not familiar w this tribe! Interesting.
    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  5. Exquisite basket.
    When we lived in Pacifica we learned much about the Ohlone and saw their things in the San Mateo County museum.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  6. I learned something new today, thank you. Wonderful basket.

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  7. The basket is a work of art! I didn't know about this tribe. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. WOW, WOW, WOW - just amazing! Hats off to the Oakland Museum!

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