Edward Palmer - Net, “Barcina,” For Carrying Pottery

Net, “Barcina,” For Carrying Pottery

Provenance: Durango, Mexico

Accession Number: 31710

Date Acquired: 1897

Culture: Unknown

Narrative: Agave: A Plant Woven into the Cultural Fabric and Landscape

To this day, indigenous peoples and other local inhabitants of the southwestern United States and Mexico use the Agave for food, drink, soap, and fiber. Palmer was interested in Agaves and collected numerous products made from both wild and cultivated agaves. Palmer was especially interested in pulque, a distilled beverage made from the heart of the agave. He sent this barcina, or net for carrying pottery, made of Agave leaf fibers, to the Smithsonian Institution along with 85 specimens illustrating pulque making and pottery manufacturing, plus 870 specimens of other Mexican plants.

Palmer's Growing Interest in Economic Plants

In the following year (1897), Palmer visited Guaymas in the Mexican state of Sonora and created an extensive list of economically important plants from this region, including medicinal plants from the market (Edward Palmer Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution).