GREAT, OR CLASSIC PUEBLO PERIOD. 1100 to 1300 A.D.
This period has often been called the golden age of the Pueblo people. Before we go into it, however, we should make some mention of the beginning date, 1100 A.D. Usually, in the general Pueblo area, an earlier date is given for the beginning of the period. One may very easily push it back fifty or one hundred years, or even more, depending upon how the period is defined.
Recent studies have produced some perplexing problems concerning the architecture, pottery and movements of the people during their last two or three centuries in the Mesa Verde. It is hoped that within a short time some or all of these problems will be solved. Since the uncertainties do exist we shall, for our purposes here, lean rather heavily on the term “classic,” which is often applied to this climax period. The culture reached its classic development during the 1100-1300 A.D. period so we shall use those dates.
We saw the beginning of Pueblo development over a thousand years earlier when the first grain of corn was planted somewhere in the Mesa Verde region. From that simple beginning we have seen the culture develop steadily without a backward step. Now it has reached its peak and for two centuries we shall see the people enjoy the results of their long struggle for improvement. It is true that adverse influences will affect the people and will cause a radical change in their way of life. But this adversity will not affect the arts and crafts and superior workmanship will continue to the very end of the Mesa Verde occupation.
The massive stone walls were the finest ever built in the Mesa Verde. The stones were carefully cut and were laid in neat even courses. Many of the walls were smoothly plastered and often they were decorated with brightly colored designs. The villages were often very large: sometimes they contained scores of rooms and rose to a height of four stories. Ceremonial rooms were numerous: sometimes there were more than a score in a single village. They were built after a definite pattern, giving evidence of rigid ceremonial practices.
Pottery of the Great Pueblo period was superb with the women of each area specializing in certain shapes and designs. In the Mesa Verde the women produced pottery of two types, the corrugated vessels which were used for cooking and for storage of food and water, and the black-on-white bowls, jars, ladles, kiva jars and mugs which were used for other purposes. The decorated pottery was highly polished and the intricate and carefully balanced black designs stood out in sharp contrast against the glossy white background. For some unknown reason the potters used a different material for their pottery paint during this period. Previously they had used mineral paints in producing their designs but now they used paint made from plants. Thus the designs were simply carbon which the firing process burned into the surface of the vessels.
During the two Pueblo periods basketry declined both in popularity and in excellence. This is to be expected, however, for pottery had taken its place to a great extent and it was not as important as in Basket Maker times. Good baskets were still woven in Great Pueblo times but they were fewer and the lack of elaborate decorations probably indicates that their popularity was waning. Sandals were still widely used but they too declined in quality. Possibly the loss of quality in basketry affected this closely allied craft.
Cotton cloth, often decorated in several colors, was produced in abundance and exquisite jewelry was made from turquoise, shell, bone and other materials. Even the minor tools give evidence of patient industry and nimble fingers.
The Great Pueblo period was a remarkable climax to the many centuries of cultural development which we have just witnessed. As we study it, however, one significant fact is obvious. It was a period of regimentation with the people moving in certain well established grooves. Artists and craftsmen were highly skilled but they all followed the same patterns. There was little tendency on the part of the individual to strike out by himself and develop new things. Individual initiative was not strong and the religious and social life probably was rigidly regulated.
As archeologists endeavor to reconstruct the events of the Great Pueblo period they are confronted with some puzzling problems concerning the general way of life of the people. During the period the architectural layout of the villages changed, the villages increased in size and their location changed. In addition, the population began to decline and great areas which had long been occupied were deserted. At first glance it would seem that adverse conditions were affecting the people but more work must be done before all of the problems can be solved.
At the beginning of the period the population was widely scattered and most of the villages were small unit pueblos which have already been mentioned. The fact that the people lived in small scattered villages would in itself indicate that no danger threatened. Even more indicative of peaceful times is the fact that the kiva was located outside the village walls. The kiva, an underground room, was used primarily by the men. The only exit was a small hatchway in the roof and through this only one man could emerge at a time. If a raiding party had surprised a small village while the men were in the kiva during a ceremony or at night the results would have been tragic.
Early in the Great Pueblo period the people began to change the location of the kiva. Soon, in most cases at least, the kiva was placed inside the village and was surrounded by the houses. No longer was the underground room a death trap in case of a surprise raid.
At about the same time tall round towers came into use. Sometimes they were built at the outer walls of the pueblo but very often the tower was built beside the kiva and was connected with it by an underground tunnel. The round tower, which stood higher than the rest of the village, would have served admirably as a lookout tower and connecting it with the men’s room would seem a natural development. It has been suggested that the tower may have had some ceremonial use since it was connected with the kiva. More practical, however, is the idea that it was a watch tower which resulted from a defensive need. Or, if one wishes to avoid taking sides, perhaps it served both purposes.
Whatever was affecting the people now seems to have caused life in small villages to be less desirable for as we move farther into the Great Pueblo period we see the pueblos increase in size. It is true that some small pueblos were still in use but one of the outstanding characteristics of the period was the concentration of the population in pueblos of great size.
An excellent example of this concentration is to be seen in the great Montezuma Valley which lies to the north and west of the Mesa Verde. At an earlier date the Pueblo Indians who occupied this valley lived in many small villages. During the Great Pueblo period the people seem to have banded together to form large communities. A number of enormous pueblos were constructed and in many cases they were built around the springs which supplied water for the populace.
In the Mesa Verde the trend was the same. At the beginning of the period the people lived in numerous small pueblos. After a time they began to band together and toward the end of the twelfth century large pueblos were being built on the mesa tops and in the broad, shallow drainages at the heads of canyons. In some cases several small pueblos were built close together while in other cases several small pueblos were clustered around one or more large ones.
The next change was the most radical of all. About 1200 A.D., the people began to desert the mesa tops and within a short time cliff dwellings were built in almost every cave in the Mesa Verde. Shallow caves were available in great numbers for the mesa contains a score of large canyons. The exact number of cliff dwellings is not known but probably there are as many as six or eight hundred in the canyons of the Mesa Verde.
The events of the Great Pueblo period seem to indicate that the people were faced with some danger which was not present during the earlier periods. The change from small to large pueblos indicates a need for security and the final move to the caves must indicate a definite need for defense. Hundreds of the caves were high on the cliff faces and many of them were additionally fortified with defensive walls.
There can be little doubt that during this period the security of the people was threatened. Now we come to the most difficult question of all. Who was the enemy? Against whom were the people defending their homes? The complete answer is not known but there appear to be two possibilities.
It has been suggested that during this period dissension arose within the Pueblo group itself and the people began to war against each other. This theory will be difficult to prove and events of the period seem to argue against it. If the need for defense resulted from trouble within the tribe one might well expect the people to scatter even more widely with groups leaving the heavily populated areas to seek safety in isolation. But the people did just the opposite. Large areas were deserted and the population became more concentrated than in any previous period.
Four small cliff dwellings with excellent defensive locations
This drawing together of the Pueblo people may well indicate that the threat was from the outside and it is possible that at this time nomadic Indians entered the area and began to harass the farmers. Ceaseless raids of nomadic marauders would exert tremendous pressure on a farming population and withdrawal from the border lands and concentration in certain favorable areas probably indicates a need for defense against an outside enemy.
In 1540, when the Spaniards entered the Southwest, several tribes of nomadic Indians were warring on the Pueblo people and the population had dropped radically. When the Pueblo population was at its height there were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of villages but when the Spaniards came they found less than eighty villages of Pueblo Indians and these were concentrated in a small area in what is now New Mexico and Arizona. Even after the Americans came the population continued to dwindle. Finally there were fewer than thirty villages of Pueblo Indians. Much of this loss of population was due to the harassing activities of nomadic Indians and it is possible that in the Mesa Verde area this trouble began about 1100 A.D.
The identity of the nomadic tribes which warred on the people of the Mesa Verde region is not known. It has been suggested that the early Apaches or the early Utes may have entered the area at that time but there is little positive evidence. Further research may provide an answer to the problem but it is possible the identity of the “enemy people” will never be known.
The Great Pueblo period came to an end just before 1300 A.D., and that is the time when the Pueblo Indians moved away from the Mesa Verde, never to return. As was mentioned in an earlier chapter the Pueblo Indian occupation of the Mesa Verde came to an end during the great drought of 1276-1299 A.D. Rainfall was deficient during this period of twenty-four years and before normal weather returned in the year 1300, all of the people had drifted off to the south. Nothing has been found to indicate that the Mesa Verde region was ever occupied by farming Indians after the drouth.
Since the area was deserted during the drouth it is only reasonable to assume that this period of abnormally dry weather was the cause of their leaving. There is much, however, to indicate that the drouth was not the sole cause. During their long occupation of the Mesa Verde the Indians had survived many long periods of drouth. Dry years were not a new experience and they were wise in the ways of existing through unfavorable periods. It is doubtful whether the drouth, severe as it was, would have caused complete abandonment of so large an area. We may feel sure that during the Great Pueblo period a very real danger threatened the people. They moved to the caves, certainly because of a need for security, and the population diminished. Before the drouth came the people were already moving to the south and it is probable that the abnormally dry period simply hastened a movement that was already underway. While the final, complete desertion of the area may be blamed on the drouth it appears that the danger which had threatened for more than a century had much to do with the abandonment of the once populous area.
When normal weather returned in the year 1300, there were no Pueblo Indians in the Mesa Verde. All had perished or had drifted away and the villages were empty and silent. Slowly the centuries paraded by. Drifting earth and vegetation crept over the mesa-top pueblos and the leveling forces of nature caused the once proud cliff dwellings slowly to bow their heads.
Then suddenly the silence of six centuries was broken and the emptiness was gone. Men of a new race came upon the scene and the modern world learned of the glorious past of the Mesa Verde.