[Illustration: 4½ inches 7 inches Maidu stone knives of obsidian, one with a wooden and sinew handle (after Dixon)]
[Illustration: A warrior in stick armor and fur helmet]
“Defensive armor included rod armor ..., gowns ... of dried elk or bear skins, and skin helmets which came down over the forehead and ears, ‘so a man could just see out of it’. The skin armor extended to the ankles or lower; it was worn over one shoulder so that it protected only the side of the body turned toward the enemy. Rod armor, made of serviceberry withes twined together with buckskin string, was high enough to come up to the neck under the chin and extended two or three inches below the belt. The Plains Indian shield, although found among the Surprise Valley Paiute and other Paiute tribes to the east, was lacking among the Atsugewi,” and all other tribes of the Lassen area.
The outstanding art of the Indians of California was their basketry. In fact the excellence of California basketry generally is not exceeded elsewhere in North America. Size varies from that of a pea to that of a bushel basket. Both weave and ornamentation were very diversified.
Basketry of the Lassen area, especially that of the Atsugewi and mountain Maidu, was of good quality. Both coiled and twined types of basketry (to be described below) were made by mountain Maidu, but the Atsugewi did not learn the art of coiled basketry from the Maidu until the early 1900’s. Yana and Yahi wove both types but twined baskets were by far the more numerous. This is due to the fact that these tribes were akin to the twining tribes of the north. Close contact with the neighboring Wintun tribes of the Sacramento Valley resulted in the addition of limited amount of coiling technique in their basketry making over the years.
[Illustration: Technique of the three willow rod (or rib) coiled basketry (after Otis T. Mason). Note that the lashing strand anchors the three new ribs “a”, “b”, and “c” to the top rib “d” of the preceding three “d”, “e”, and “f” group]
[Illustration: Simple twined basketry technique employs two weft (lashing) strands, but when overlaying with another material is done two or more layers will make up each of the strands “a” and “b” (modified from Otis T. Mason)]