burden basket

burden basket (plural burden baskets)

1. A basket fitted with a strap or straps to allow it to be carried on the back with the carrier's arms free.
   • 1942, Emily Carr, The Book of Small, "East and West,"

     A cedar-root burden basket of her own weaving was slung across the woman's back, steadied by a woven pack strap worn across the chest. Women of some tribes wore the strap across their foreheads, pushing their heads forward against the burden's weight.

   • 2007, Dennis Slifer, Kokopelli: The Magic, Mirth, and Mischief of an Ancient Symbol, Gibbs Smith, Chapter 3, p. 109,

     […] the hump on some figures' backs may sometimes represent a burden basket, which was employed throughout northern Mexico, and at Hopi was used along with a supporting forehead strap.

Generally refers to items produced traditionally in indigenous North American communities.

• carrying basket