The Southwest stretches from Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of southeastern California to central Mexico. The MPM collection has examples from the Western Apache (1), Cochiti Pueblo (1), Hopi (8), and Navajo (1).
Two major types of cradle were produced in the Southwest. One consisted of carved boards and bent wooden bows very similar to the Northeastern groups, to which children were simply swaddled and lashed with a network of hide lacing rather than cloth wrappers. The second style of cradle was a U- or lozenge-shaped frame of bent yucca or sotol that had a woven backrest and usually included a broad bow. Designs were often woven into the bow with different colored materials. The woven cradle may have also included a covering of buckskin and a hardwood footboard. Many of these cradles included an unwoven area by the bottom to allow easy elimination of the child’s waste.
