Bone and stone tools
Top: Bone needle, bone awls, bone scraper, stone knife and arrowheads
Middle: Highly polished stone blade
Bottom: Stone axe, hammer and hammerstone
Sometimes men of other tribes come to trade and there is great excitement in the city. The strangers not only bring beautiful jewelry and much-needed cotton and salt but they bring news from the outside world. This is almost as important as the actual objects of trade and before the trading can begin, the people must hear what is going on outside their own little world.
The news that the welcome traders bring is of an infinite variety. It may concern the weather, the crops, the hunting conditions, or the private affairs of the people. The news may be bad: somewhere a village has been visited by a scourge of dysentery and half of the children are dead; in one region a plague of grasshoppers has destroyed the crops; somewhere else a forest fire has wiped out the entire population; in another place the enemy tribes are becoming stronger and village after village is being wiped out. There is no joy when these things are told. But more often the news is good: there is a fine crop of pinon nuts on a distant mountain; in a certain region the deer are as thick as lice on an old man’s head; a new vein of turquoise has been discovered that yields hard, blue stones. Much of the news is of a personal nature: there has been a murder; in a certain village a woman has had triplets; a man has been thrown out by his mother-in-law because he snored too loudly; a certain priest is having miraculous luck with his healing ceremonies; a deformed child has been born; a well-known chief has gone blind.
Much of the news is pure gossip and it is repeated time after time, gaining spice and details with each telling. There is no restraint in discussions concerning intimate personal affairs and every new bit of scandal is relished by the fireside listeners. The travelers who bring news from distant regions expect an even trade for they must return home with a full stock of news for their own people.
The news which has the greatest effect upon the listeners is that concerning the enemy raiders. For generations the threat has been increasing. So far the Mesa Verde has not suffered but the people know the danger is coming closer each year. There are so many villages on the great, protective mesa that they have always felt safe. In the caves are hundreds of cliff dwellings, all easily defended, and since each village is within shouting distance of the next, help could quickly be summoned. But the savage raiders grow bolder and stronger. Sooner or later they will come climbing up to the top of the Mesa Verde to steal women and corn, even though it is a long way to go for corn.
Except for these alarming bits of news, the visits of the traders are festive occasions. Everyone marvels at the things they bring. The men bargain endlessly and the exchange of news continues day after day. The women cook their finest dishes and the dusty travelers are honored guests. After days of friendly visiting and trading, they start back down the trail bearing the good wishes of the people of Cliff Palace.
Gambling is also a common indulgence among the men and much of the exchange of goods is through gambling rather than trading. At any time of the day a knot of interested onlookers can be seen somewhere in the city, silently watching some game of chance. Anything that has the slightest value can be gambled. The stakes may be only insignificant objects, or a man may stake everything he possesses against a single fine piece of jewelry. It may be a guessing contest, a game of skill, or a pure game of chance in which small carved bones are thrown on the floor and the winner is determined by the manner in which the bones turn up. Someone wins, someone loses, and no one is hurt. By a few days of diligent labor a man can replace any of the things lost, except jewelry, which has the greatest value of any of his possessions. Necklaces, pendants, and earrings are made of turquoise, colored stones and sea shells. Some of them are exquisite: the beads of turquoise or stone are sometimes so fine that there are thousands of them on a single necklace. Such a necklace requires weeks of painstaking labor.
Toward the middle of July there is an ominous threat in the air each afternoon. Billowing thunderheads fill the sky and turn to a dark angry shade. Sudden gusts of wind rip across the mesa tops threatening to uproot the corn and there is a distant roll of thunder. The air is heavy and depressing. Each day the skies become darker. Except for the men who are watching fields, the people stay close to the cave. No one wants to be far from shelter when the storm breaks.