Man, Past and Present

by A. H. Keane

The Athapascan tribes to the east show intermediate cultures. The Jicarilla and Mescalero used the Plains tipi, gathered wild vegetable food, hunted bison, had no agriculture or weaving, but dressed in skins, and had the glass-bead technique of the Plains. The western Apache differed little from these, but rarely used tipis and gave a little more attention to agriculture. In general the Apache have certain undoubted Pueblo traits, they also remind one of the Plains, the Plateaus, and, in a lean-to like shelter, of the Mackenzie area. The Navaho seem to have taken their most striking features from European influence, but their shelter is of the northern type, while costume, pottery and feeble attempts at basketry and formerly at agriculture suggest Pueblo influence[862].

The Pueblos.

Pueblo culture takes its name from the towns or villages of stone or adobe houses which form the characteristic feature of the area. These vary according to the locality, those in the north being generally of sandstone, while adobe or sun-dried brick was employed to the south. The groups of dwellings were generally compact structures of several stories, with many small rooms, built in terrace fashion, the roof of one storey forming a promenade for the storey next above. Thus from the front the structure is like a gigantic staircase, from the back a perpendicular wall. The upper houses were and still are reached by means of movable ladders and a hatchway in the roof. Mainly in the north but scattered throughout the area are the remains of dwellings built in natural recesses of cliffs, while in some places the cliff face is honeycombed with masonry to provide habitations.

Cliff Dwellings.

Although doubtless designed for purposes of hiding and defence, many of the cliff houses were near streams and fields and were occupied because they afforded shelter and were natural dwelling places; many were storage places for maize and other property: others again were places for outlook from which the fields could be watched or the approach of strangers observed. In some districts evidence of post-Spanish occupancy exists. From intensive investigation of the cliff dwellings it is evident that the inhabitants had the same material culture as that of existing Pueblo Indians, and from the ceremonial objects which have been discovered and the symbolic decoration that was employed it is equally clear that their religion was essentially similar. Moreover the various types of skulls that have been recovered are similar to those of the present population of the district. It may therefore be safely said that there is no evidence of the former general occupancy of the region by peoples other than those now classed as Pueblo Indians or their neighbours.

J. W. Fewkes points out that the district is one of arid plateaus, separated and dissected by deep cañons, frequently composed of flat-lying rock strata forming ledge-marked cliffs by the erosive action of the rare storms. "Only along the few streams heading in the mountains does permanent water exist, and along the cliff lines slabs of rock suitable for building abound; and the primitive ancients, dependent as they were on environment, naturally produced the cliff dwellings. The tendency toward this type was strengthened by intertribal relations; the cliff dwellers were probably descended from agricultural or semi-agricultural villagers who sought protection against enemies, and the control of land and water through aggregation in communities.... Locally the ancient villages of Canyon de Chelly are known as Aztec ruins, and this designation is just so far as it implies relationship with the aborigines of moderately advanced culture in Mexico and Central America, though it would be misleading if regarded as indicating essential difference between the ancient villagers and their modern descendants and neighbours still occupying the pueblos[863]."

Religion.

Each pueblo contains at least one kiva, either wholly or partly underground, entered by means of a ladder and hatchway, forming a sacred chamber for the transaction of civil or religious affairs, and also a club for the men. In some villages each totemic clan has its own kiva. The Indians are eminently a religious people and much time is devoted to complicated rites to ensure a supply of rain, their main concern, and the growth of crops. Among the Hopi from four to sixteen days in every month are employed by one society or another in the carrying out of religious rites. The secret portions of these complicated ceremonies take place in the kiva, while the so-called "dances" are performed in the open.

The clan ancestors may be impersonated by masked men, called katcinas, the name being also applied to the religious dramas in which they appear[864].

Snake Dances.