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Beaded cradleboard with geometric designs on hide / Unknown

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Essay/Description

This lattice-style cradle is made from a hide cover wrapped around rawhide supports at the head and foot and a rawhide backing, all laced to a board frame. This sturdy construction protected the baby, with a rawhide hood around its face and strong boards and rawhide at its back. The cradle could be carried on a mother's back or leaned against a tree or post with the boards on either side providing stability. Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, Lakota, and Cheyenne women began using this style of cradle in the 1860s.

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©Gilcrease Museum
Title(s): 
Beaded cradleboard with geometric designs on hide
Creator(s): 
Unknown
Culture: 
Native American; Cheyenne or Kiowa
Date: 
circa 1920
Materials/Techniques: 
Wood, buckskin, sinew, glass beads, thread, copper alloy, iron tacks, twine, cloth and rawhide
Classification: 
Ethnographic Objects
Furnishings
Object Type: 
Cradleboard
Accession No: 
84.628
Previous Number(s): 
8426.628
Department: 
Anthropology
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