How has archaeological evidence preserved information about prehistoric basketry?

Archaeological evidence has preserved information about prehistoric basketry primarily through specific environmental conditions and accidental impressions. Because basketry materials are organic and prone to decay, they typically survive only in environments characterized by extreme dryness—such as in Egypt, Peru, or southern Spain—or extreme humidity, such as the peat bogs of northern Europe and lake dwellings in Switzerland.1

In other instances, basketry has been preserved when buried in volcanic ash, as seen in Oregon. Additionally, researchers have gained significant insights from indirect evidence, such as impressions left in mud or on the bases of pottery that were originally molded using a basketry foundation. A notable example of this is the Neolithic village of Jarmo in northern Iraq, where mud impressions of woven mats provide some of the oldest known evidence of the craft, dating back to approximately 7000 BCE.12