ANCIENT AMERICAN WEAVING

This workbasket of a master weaver illustrates the technology of ancient American textile production. Found in a woman's grave in the Andes dating from one thousand years ago, the workbasket contains tools and thread for every stage of textile production. Weaving—like cooking, hunting, and worship—depended on human knowledge that survived only when passed from an experienced person to a novice. Photograph © 2012 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Charles H. White 02.680.