ucca, Spanish bayonet, datil, soapweed,—all names for one of the most important plant resources used by ancient peoples in the Southwest. It is a plant that literally wove together the day-to-day life of the prehistoric cultures. If you were an ancient traveler in the desert regions a thousand years ago, yucca would have been a trusted friend providing the means to weave rope and baskets, fashion sandals, create fire by friction, tan deer hides, make soap and medicine, and providing carbohydrate-rich foods. It was and still is a tremendously utilized plant in the Southwest though its applications today, amongst native peoples, are now most often associated with basketry.
A member of the Lily family, the genus Yucca includes about 40 species, most of which are found in the Southwest and Mexico, although some species are indigenous to the southeastern United States and the Caribbean islands. Yucca grows on windswept mesas, in the low desert, and can even be found up to 8500 feet on the San Francisco Peaks.
One use for this amazing plant is in the area of primitive firemaking—otherwise known as the art of rubbing two sticks together. Archeological evidence indicates that the predominant method of firemaking used throughout the Southwest, before the Bic, was the friction method called the hand-drill. I remember the first time I used yucca for firemaking in the old way. It was on a 10-day primitive walkabout in central Arizona where a friend and I were relying solely on the ancient skills used in the Southwest without the aid of any modern gear. With sunset upon us and a cold night ahead, we were on a quest for fire and sought out a cluster of narrow leaf yuccas on a hillside that were heavy with dead stalks.
After cutting down a weathered stalk with my stone blade, I sharpened the pithy stalk into a flat fireboard and carved out a small hole with a notch. This hole would receive a spindle made from another thin yucca stalk. Thirty-seconds of spinning the spindle into the fireboard and a glowing coal was produced which was then placed in a bundle of shredded cottonwood bark and blown into flame. We were no longer at the mercy of the cold and a dinner of cattails, mesquite flour, and trout cooked over the open flames never tasted so good. Fire-by-friction is one skill that was certainly used by prehistoric peoples and making it with your own hands is an empowering feeling that connects you with an ancient timeline. Ever since that trip, I have always looked upon yucca with great appreciation and respect.
The hand-drill method universally employs three underlying principles that are critical to success:
1) Soft, non-resinous wood like yucca or cottonwood must be used. 2) A skillful combination of speed and downward pressure must be employed if the proper level of friction is to occur. 3) And lots of elbow grease is involved.

A couple of things become evident when you first undertake primitive firemaking. The first is that you can give up your gym membership. The second is that you will never be caught in the wilds without a lighter! Friction firemaking does certainly give you a healthy respect for the day-to-day living skills used by our ancestors and the ancient peoples of the Southwest.
If you want to try this method of firemaking, you will need three materials:
First, cut a plant stalk for the drill. This needs to be about 16” long and made from yucca, sunflower, mullein, seep willow, arrow wood, or cattail. The most common material showing up in the ethnographic literature in Arizona was yucca.
Second, carve a flat fireboard of soft, non-resinous wood such as yucca, cottonwood, rotten aspen, or willow. Avoid resinous wood such as pine as the sap will cause convective cooling and not allow for the formation of a coal. Specimens from the Museum of Northern Arizona were made from yucca and juniper. My personal favorite is to use cottonwood for a fireboard with a drill made from a sunflower stalk.
Third, construct a tinder bundle from the fluffy, shredded bark of a dead juniper or cottonwood tree. Form it into a bird’s nest and use it to cradle the coal and send it on its way to flame.
Finally, practice, practice, practice. This is a skill that the ancient peoples of the Southwest grew up with using on a daily basis so it takes time to develop proficiency. Oh yeah, calluses and lots of caveman grunting helps too when performing this skill.
Another use for yucca is to make soap. It doesn’t take much to create some quick suds for your hair or hands when on the river. The entire plant contains saponins and is one of the few wild plants that can be used as a soap substitute. When out on a long primitive trek with a group, my students often strongly encourage each other, after dealing with days of sweat and dust, to gather some yucca root!
The waxy, green outer coating on yucca leaves can be utilized for a quickie lather and when I make rope from the inner fibers of yucca, I always save this green fuzz. This is easily shaved off with a stone flake or a knife held at a right angle.
The most concentrated soap, however, can be had from the yucca root. Rather than dig up and injure an entire plant just for a small root section, I prefer to look for yuccas overhanging rock faces or outcroppings where the roots are already exposed. I then carefully cut a small thumb-sized piece as this will not damage the plant. Even roots from dead yuccas can be used. Next, the root is sliced up and then mashed in about two cups of water. Voila—wilderness shampoo. Who said you can’t smell good in the outback!
Using yucca to make fire in the old way or create soap are ways of gaining a deeper connection to the desert landscape as well as providing insight into prehistoric living that you just can’t get walking through a museum. Hail the mighty yucca!

Tony Nester

Tony Nester teaches courses in traditional living and desert survival skills through his company Ancient Pathways in Flagstaff. When not foraging for yucca, he can be reached at www.apathways.com or 928/774-7522.