Moccasins
From Scoggin's journal:
This weather, or us and our super-warm blood!...We gave the day until about noon to warm-up and the wind to loose (sic) some of its chill and when there was no good promise for either happening, Ed and I ...started out for the cave...uncovered a complete pair of buckskin moccasins, which had been tied into a clumpy bundle with a long piece of cordage and "cached" a few inches below the surface. February 19, 1940
Burgh and Scoggin (1948) described the moccasins as typical Fremont construction, made from mountain sheep hide with dewclaws attached. Use wear is evident. The dewclaws on this pair are missing, perhaps worn off, and the moccasins have several repairs.
It is interesting to note that one moccasin of this pair (A271) has two sole patches sewn on with two-ply, S spin, Z final twist cordage. Two other pieces of cordage that seem to act as ties vary in cordage construction technique: one is two-ply, Z spin, S final twist and the other is two-ply, S spin, Z final twist. A third piece of cordage on this moccasin, which appears to have less use and hence is probably newer, is two-ply, S spin, Z final twist. It is unusual to find objects with two types of cordage because most prehistoric communities use only one type of construction technique. The other moccasin in the pair has only one type of cordage for all three pieces: two-ply, S spin, Z final twist. The moccasins were considered to be "winter" ones because they were stuffed with cedar bark, presumably for insulation. One of the moccasins produced a calibrated carbon-14 date of 600-780 A.D. (.94), which we interpret as dating to about 690 A.D.