Pima and Papago Baskets
The Pima are well known for their basket weaving techniques, intricately woven, they are made watertight. All materials used to create these unique works of art are completely natural and many have disappeared or are just not available due to encroaching civilization, or diminishing sources. The materials, which consist of willow shoots, cattails, and devil's claws, must be collected at the proper time of year and selected carefully.The designs on a Pima basket represent a people who respect the environment in which they live.
The Papago (Tohono O´odham) weavers of Arizona made baskets very much like those of the Pima of the same area. Both tribes used willow and both used martynia - or devil’s claw - for a decorative material. It seems that the Papago produced many more shapes than did the Pima.
