Indians of the Mesa Verde

by Don Watson

From a cultural viewpoint the Basket Makers are important because of their lack of certain very important traits. During their early farming stages they did not make pottery, did not use the bow and arrow, and did not have permanent houses except in one area which we shall mention in a moment.

The lack of houses and pottery was perfectly natural for they had only recently been a hunting people. While they lived as hunters they were forced to move about in search of game and a permanent house was an impossibility. Pottery was also out of the question for it was too heavy for them to transport as they moved about. The absence of the bow was simply due to the fact that it had not yet reached these people. The bow probably was invented only once. From its point of beginning somewhere in the Old World it spread slowly from tribe to tribe and we shall see it reach the Basket Makers at a later date.

All people need shelter, household utensils and weapons so, lacking houses, pottery and the bow, our Basket Makers used substitutes. As is always the case they were inferior.

Part of the time, probably during the cold seasons, the Basket Makers lived in caves. These offered shelter from the elements and provided safe, dry places for the storage of food. The women built their fires in level sheltered areas and around these fires centered most of the activities. In the rear of the cave they constructed storage cists for their corn. Small pits were dug in the cave floor and were lined with slabs of sandstone chinked with bark and mud. Over the pit was placed a roof of poles and packed earth, leaving only a small hatchway which was closed with a thin stone slab. Such cists were secure and dry and served as excellent storage bins for the year’s harvest of corn. When the people left the cave for any length of time they could conceal the storage pits by covering them over with earth and stones so they would not be detected by chance visitors.

Even though most of the Basket Maker remains have been found in caves it is probable that they lived in the open near their fields for at least part of the year. As farming became more important to them they were forced to protect their crops. Each farm needed to be watched carefully to prevent damage by birds and mammals or even by men of other groups. Because of this necessity of living near their fields it is probable that they erected temporary shelters for protection from the sun and rain. A mere framework of poles covered with brush and grass would have sufficed. No trace of these temporary shelters has been found but there is a strong feeling that they did exist.

Recent excavations have revealed that in one area the Basket Makers began experimenting with permanent houses at an earlier date than formerly had been realized. Near Durango, Colorado, Mr. Earl H. Morris, of the Carnegie Institution, excavated a number of house structures, both in caves and on open hillsides, which date from the first and second centuries A.D. While these houses were crude when compared with the standardized pithouses which later came into wide use, they do indicate that the Basket Makers, in that area at least, began to experiment with permanent structures soon after they became a farming people. Further excavation may reveal that crude, hogan-like structures were in general use at an earlier date than has been realized.

The absence of pottery during Basket Maker times resulted in a widespread use of baskets and, as the name implies, basketry was the major craft. Many of the baskets of this period are superb examples of workmanship and design. Skillfully woven, artistically decorated and gracefully shaped they are outstanding among the basketry of the early Indians. Shallow trays were the most common form but there were also bowls, water baskets, deep carrying baskets and small baskets which probably served for storing trinkets and ceremonial objects. Large, flexible bags were also woven and these were often split open and used as burial wrappings.

Since pottery was unknown baskets were used for all household purposes where containers were needed. Some were so tightly woven that water could be carried and stored in them and, surprisingly, food was cooked in them. Cooking in a basket was a tedious affair. Stones were placed in the fire and when they were very hot were dropped into the basket of food. When the stones cooled they were replaced with more hot stones until the cook’s fingers were thoroughly burned and her patience was exhausted. Half-cooked “stew-a-la-ashes” was the inevitable result. It was a crude, inefficient method and greatly limited the cooking possibilities.

Lack of the bow and arrow forced the Basket Makers to rely on an odd weapon, the atlatl, which was as difficult to use as it is to pronounce. It was used in many parts of the world before the bow took its place. The atlatl was a spear thrower which served as a mechanical lengthener for the arm. It was a slender, flattened stick about two feet in length. At one end was the grip, equipped with two loops for the fingers. At the opposite end, on the upper face, was a short spur or hook, against which the dart or spear rested.

The dart, either a reed or a slender shaft of wood, was four or five feet long. One end was tipped with a stone point: the other end was feathered and this basal end was cup-shaped to fit against the spur on the atlatl. In reality the dart was merely a long arrow.