Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest

by H. M. Wormington

Fig. 17—Postulated method of Modified-Basketmaker house construction. (After Roberts,[105] Courtesy Smithsonian Institution.)

The side entrance was retained in a reduced form, apparently to provide ventilation. An upright slab, often found standing between the fire pit and the passage opening, is believed to have served the purpose of keeping the inrushing air from putting out the fire, and is known as a [deflector]. There was often a bench or shelf running around the inside of the house. This was sometimes omitted along the south side. Some storage bins were built against the walls of the house.

Floors were usually of hardened clay, but in a few cases they were paved with stone slabs. A basinlike fire pit with a raised rim lay near the center of the floor. Extending from the south side of the pit to the walls there were often ridges of mud. These were later replaced, in some areas, by partitions, sometimes several feet high, made of slabs or adobe. Metates are commonly found in the southern section, and it has been suggested that this may have been the women’s part of the house. A short distance on the other side of the fire pit is a small hole, known as the [Sipapu]. Similarly placed holes in present day ceremonial structures of the Pueblo Indians represent the mythical place of emergence from the underworld from which the first people came to the earth. The partitioning of the Modified-Basketmaker houses may have served to segregate religious from secular activities. It is believed that originally each house had its own shrine. In later times highly specialized structures were built for ceremonial practices. This is foreshadowed in the Modified-Basketmaker period for one site belonging to this [horizon] has been found which contained a larger structure, similar to the houses, but apparently not used as a dwelling place.[105]

Toward the end of the period in some areas, particularly in Southwestern Colorado, some surface houses were built which presaged the type of structure found in the next period. Villages have been excavated in which separate pit houses were still used for living quarters, but there were also some dwellings which were above ground and had contiguous rooms.[83][95]

Another important development in this period was the manufacture of true pottery. Some unfired forms were still made. Sometimes they were molded in baskets and in other cases they were started in baskets and finished by a coiling technique. To produce a vessel by this method, a thin rope of clay is formed, then wound around in a circle with each row or coil being attached to the one preceding it. Each added ring adds to the height of the vessel wall. If a smooth surface is desired, the depressions which mark the joining of the coils are obliterated. The Anasazi achieved this by scraping with a thin gourd or wooden implement, or sometimes with a piece of broken pottery. The principle of the potter’s wheel was never discovered in the Southwest.

At one time it was felt that pottery making might have been a local development of the Modified Basketmakers, but this theory has been largely abandoned although it has not really been disproven. The belief most generally held is that knowledge of pottery manufacture, as well as maize, originally spread from Middle America to the Southwest by [diffusion]. Some archaeologists now believe that the Modified Basketmakers may have learned about pottery from people living in southwestern New Mexico who were making pottery at an earlier date.

The first Modified-Basketmaker pottery was crude and limited in form with many globular shapes somewhat reminiscent of those of gourds or baskets. Perforated side lugs were very characteristic. The dominant ware was a light to medium gray with a coarse granular paste tempered with quartz. This occasionally became black from smoke carbon. Exteriors were often marked with striations, suggesting that the vessels were rubbed with a bunch of grass while still wet. There were some bowls with interior decorations applied with black paint. The paint is believed to have been made by boiling the juice of some plant, such as bee weed, which still provides pigment for Indian potters. Brushes were probably made by chewing the end of a yucca splint until the fibers separated and were soft and flexible. Designs appear to have been taken, to a great extent, from basketry. They usually consist of bands or ribbonlike panels and the most common design elements are dots, small triangles, rakelike appendages, and crude life forms.

No kilns were used and pottery was probably fired with a conical pyre of firewood placed around the vessels. When the air is kept out and there is no excess of oxygen in the atmosphere in which pottery is fired, a white or gray colored background, such as is found in Basketmaker wares, results. Such pottery is said to have been fired in a [reducing atmosphere]. When air is allowed to circulate and there is an excess of oxygen in the atmosphere, red, brown, or yellow pottery is produced, and the vessels are characterized as having been fired in an [oxidizing atmosphere].[15]

In a few sites there has been found a highly polished red ware, sometimes plain and occasionally with designs in black, and a pottery with red designs on a brown or buff background.[95] These wares are much better made than those previously described and this, coupled with their rarity, indicates that they were foreign to the Modified-Basketmaker [culture]. It has been suggested that they may have been imported from the south and that the red pottery, which owes its red color to firing in an [oxidizing atmosphere], may be the product of the Mogollon people, of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona, who will be discussed in a later section. Certain Modified Basketmaker vessels were covered with a wash of red pigment which was applied after firing and which was impermanent. This is known as fugitive red. The theory has been advanced that this may represent an attempt on the part of the Basketmakers to produce red pottery without knowing the firing technique which was responsible for it.[7]