MODIFIED BASKET MAKER PERIOD. 450 to 750 A.D.
Even though the culture changed the people themselves did not. It is extremely important to keep in mind the fact that the Modified Basket Makers were merely the descendants of the true Basket Makers. They added new material things to their culture, thus modifying it, but they themselves changed not one particle.
To state it briefly, it can be said that the change in name has been made because the people acquired the things which were mentioned as lacking during the earlier period. They learned to make pottery, they began to build houses and they adopted the bow and arrow. Thus the true basket making culture changed. The weaving of baskets continued but the addition of pottery modified the culture and this is indicated in the new name.
It is important to note that all three of the new developments did not appear at exactly the same time nor did they reach all of the Basket Makers at the same time. They spread from one group to the next. They were slow in getting to some regions or, since there are conservatives among all people, perhaps some of the Basket Makers were hesitant about accepting the new-fangled contraptions.
It is extremely doubtful if the Basket Makers invented a single one of the important new things. New inventions usually were passed from one tribe to another: often an intricate contrivance such as the bow and arrow traveled all over the world after a single invention. The Basket Makers did a certain amount of traveling and trading and they were not averse to borrowing new ideas from their neighbors.
It seems fairly certain that pottery came to them from the south where other tribes had been making it prior to its arrival in the Mesa Verde region. Some of the Basket Maker men, while on a trading expedition, may have seen women making vessels out of clay. Realizing the superiority of these vessels which could be placed directly on the fire the men mentioned the matter to their wives upon their return home. Possessed only of the idea, the women began trying to make pottery.
They were practically forced to invent pottery all over again for they knew nothing about the actual process. They had merely heard that fine vessels could be made from clay. Their first attempts were extremely clumsy and resulted in absolute failure. They made the first pots from pure clay and as fast as it dried the vessels cracked and fell into pieces. After a time the women realized they must add something to the clay to hold it together. Straw and juniper bark were tried and there was a certain measure of success. The vessels had less tendency to crack but when they were placed on the fire the straw burned out and the result was more in the nature of a sieve than a pot.
The patient women continued to experiment and at last they learned that some kind of sand or grit was necessary for temper. In several places in the Mesa Verde volcanic formations provided the potters with an abundance of volcanic grit. When this was ground fine and added to the pottery clay the vessels did not crack upon drying. The first pieces of pottery were merely sun dried but soon the women learned that if they were subjected to intense heat they were much stronger and were waterproof. Each vessel was carefully baked, or fired, and true pottery was the result.
The effect of pottery upon the food habits of the people was profound. With vessels that could be placed directly on the fire whole new lines of food were available. Soups, stews, porridges and greens became commonplace. Many new plants were utilized and innumerable combinations of meats and plants were discovered. Pottery was also of great value for water storage. Baskets were not good for this because the moisture soon caused them to disintegrate. Pottery lasted indefinitely and each woman could make an unlimited number of large water jars. On rainy days every jar in the village could be filled and the terrors of drouth were lessened.
Thus it is easily seen that the perfection of pottery was one of the major steps in the progress of the Indians. The diet was improved, the drudgery of cooking was lessened, the range of foods was widened, storage facilities were increased and the entire domestic economy of the people took a decided turn for the better.
At first the pottery was crude but with each succeeding generation it improved. The proper percentage of temper and clay was discovered, designs were introduced and improved upon and vessel shapes became more graceful and efficient. As time passed the fingers of the potters became more and more deft.
The adoption of a permanent house was also of great importance. Life in the open caves was never too comfortable. Heavy rains, deep snows and the bitter temperatures of winter held certain terrors for the people who were without actual dwellings. No great population could ever grow under such conditions. A permanent, secure house was needed to stabilize the culture.
As we have already seen, the Basket Makers in at least one area began to experiment with permanent houses at an early date. It is not yet known whether these earliest houses developed into the standardized pithouses which spread widely over the area early in Modified Basket Maker times but we may be quite sure the people did not develop it entirely by themselves. Similar pithouses were used by Indians in many parts of America, in fact they can be traced up the northwest coast and on to Alaska and Siberia. Since this type of house was used so widely it is probable that the Basket Makers borrowed the idea from some neighboring tribe.
The dwellings were pithouses, partially above and partially below the ground. The underground portion consisted of a shallow pit two or three feet in depth and ten to twenty feet in diameter. Sometimes the earthen walls were plastered with clay, or if the walls had a tendency to cave they were lined with stone slabs. In the floor, forming a large square, four holes were dug and a forked post slightly higher than a man’s head was set upright in each. Four slender logs were placed in the forks of these posts forming a square framework, the main support of the roof. Slender poles were slanted from the edge of the pit to this framework at twelve or fifteen inch intervals, entirely around the room. Other poles were placed across the flat, top portion to complete the skeleton of the roof.
To this framework was lashed a solid covering of reeds, brush, bark or coarse grass and the entire roof was covered with a layer of earth several inches thick. A small hatchway was left in the center of the roof. This served as a smoke hole and it was often equipped with a ladder and used as an entrance. The firepit was in the center of the room below the smoke hole.
Since the pithouse needed ventilation a tunnel was dug through the south wall and brought to the surface a few feet south of the house. Sometimes this tunnel served merely as a ventilator and crawl entrance but usually the end was enlarged into a room. This second room was always smaller than the main room but it was roofed in much the same manner. In reality a house of this type consisted of the large main room and a smaller antechamber, the two being connected by a tunnel. The location of the antechamber door is uncertain. Probably there was a hatchway in the roof or there may have been a door in one of the side walls. It is certain that the fire in the main room drew fresh air from the antechamber for just in front of the tunnel entrance was placed a large stone slab which served as a deflector. This slab kept the current of fresh air from blowing across the fire and, in the winter, prevented cold air from sweeping across the floor where people were sleeping.
The sipapu, a small hole in the floor near the firepit, made its appearance at this time. This feature has continued in use to the present day for some of the modern Pueblo Indians have similar holes in the floors of their kivas. It serves as a symbolic entrance to the Mother Earth and its importance is indicated by the fact that it has persisted for so many centuries.
Many of the earliest pithouses, perhaps the very first ones, were built in caves. The people had used the caves for centuries and it was only natural that they should build houses there. Within a short time, however, there was a movement toward the open country and soon pithouse villages were being built on the mesa tops and in open valleys. The caves, although they provided shelter from the winter’s storms, were cold and uncomfortable for the sun shone in only a few hours each day. With substantial houses the people no longer feared the rigors of winter and life in the open was far more pleasant than in the cold, shadowy caves. By the seventh century most of the people seem to have moved out of the caves and they were seldom used until the time when the cliff dwellings were built.
One of the far-reaching effects of the permanent house was its influence on true family life. Before this time the people probably had lived in haphazard groups with little opportunity for development of the true family. The house changed all this. In most instances a small pithouse probably served as the dwelling place of a single family and this gave new meaning to the family as a compact unit. Family ties, relationships and inheritance probably took on new meanings.
As generations passed the houses improved and toward the end of the period an important development came. For some time the people had built slab-lined storage rooms around their pithouses. At first they were small but gradually they were enlarged until they could serve as living rooms. The floor was slightly below ground level and the walls of the pit were lined with stone slabs. The above-ground walls were built of poles and adobe and the flat roof was of similar materials. The rooms became rectangular and the side walls vertical making it possible to join them together in long rows. At the end of the period many of the villages consisted of long rows of living rooms in front of which were a few of the old-type pithouses. These pithouses grew deeper and gradually seem to have developed into ceremonial rooms. This was the beginning of the kiva, a subterranean room which is still used for this purpose by present-day Pueblo Indians. Ruins of the type described above are called slab-house villages because of the stone slabs which lined the walls of the living rooms.
The third cultural trait which set the Modified Basket Makers apart from their ancestors, the Basket Makers, was the bow and arrow. Again the people borrowed. The bow and arrow is such a complicated combination that it is easier to believe it was invented once, then spread over the world, than that it was invented several times by different people. The invention occurred in the Old World and the weapon was brought to America by many bands of immigrants.
The Indians of the Mesa Verde received the bow and arrow after they had acquired houses and pottery. Some band of wandering Indians probably brought the new weapon into the region and the people may have obtained it by peaceful borrowing. Or they may have recognized the superiority of the bow through the sad experience of trying to defend themselves with their atlatls. Whatever the circumstances may have been they adopted the bow and the atlatl was discarded.
The bow excelled the atlatl in every way. It had greater accuracy and was well adapted for stalking game or defending the home since it could be shot from almost any position. Brush and trees did not interfere with its use as in the case of the atlatl which could be used only where there was room for the overhead sweep of the arm. Arrows were shorter than atlatl darts, easier to carry and their range was greater. The bow was also more efficient in the killing of small game.
As is always the case the old gave way to the new. The bow was accepted and soon mastered. Defense of the home was easier, hunting was more efficient and more game animals were killed than had been possible with the atlatl.
An extremely important point that must be remembered is that the house, pottery and the bow did not all arrive at the same time. It must not be considered that on a certain day, in a certain year, the Basket Makers voted to accept the new things and become Modified Basket Makers. These new cultural traits filtered in slowly and the people themselves little realized how their culture was changing.
During this period beans came up from the south and were accepted eagerly by the farmers. It is entirely possible that this acceptance was made possible by the new cooking vessels which the people now possessed. At an altitude of 7000 feet dry beans require several hours of boiling and while the people cooked in baskets this would have been virtually impossible. Pottery cooking vessels made the task easy, however, and the beans, an excellent protein food, gave the people a more balanced diet. New varieties of corn also appeared. Previously only red corn had been grown but now other colors became common.
During this period other cultural changes of a minor nature occurred. Hafted stone mauls and axes appeared, the latter being vitally necessary for cutting the many poles used in house construction. The turkey was domesticated and feather blankets, which had first appeared in the preceding period, became increasingly common. Jewelry was much the same as in earlier times except that turquoise came into use and this gave the people an additional stone from which to make beads, pendants and earrings.
The popularity of baskets was in no way lessened by the appearance of pottery and some of the finest baskets were made at this time. Sandals improved in quality and the shape changed slightly. In the preceding period the sandals were square-toed but now the toe became V-shaped, or scalloped. Often the sandals were elaborately decorated with colored designs and with designs produced by variations in the weave.
There is much evidence that the culture became more and more stabilized with each succeeding generation. Farming methods improved and the harvests became more abundant. With dependable supplies of food, the added comfort and security of the dwellings and the improvement of living conditions the population increased. By the early part of the eighth century a large population of farming Indians occupied the Mesa Verde and surrounding regions. It must have been a peaceful time for the villages were widely scattered over the mesas and open valleys, evidently with little thought of concentration for safety.
Ruins of this period are found in abundance in the Mesa Verde. Scores of pithouse and slab-house villages have been found on the mesa tops and one pithouse village has been found in a cave. In most cases pithouses which were built in caves are now underneath the cliff dwellings which were built later. Step House Cave, however, proved to be an exception. In this cave, located in Long Canyon, the cliff dwelling occupies only the north end of the cave leaving a large clear space at the south end. This area was covered with several feet of trash which the occupants of the cliff dwelling had thrown out. In 1926, Supt. Jesse L. Nusbaum excavated under this trash layer and found three pithouses which had been built about 600 A.D. This discovery indicates that some of the early pithouses were built in caves and that excavation under some of the cliff dwellings should reveal further evidence of cave occupation during Modified Basket Maker times.