Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest

by H. M. Wormington

The earliest people were dependent on both hunting and agriculture. The only propulsive weapon used was the [atlatl] or dart-thrower. Squash and corn were the only two crops produced. Houses had saucer-like floors of adobe, wood-and-mud masonry walls with a log foundation, and cribbed roofs. These people made beautiful baskets and sandals, produced some exceptionally fine twined-woven bags, and made blankets of fur-covered cord. Fired pottery was not manufactured but some unfired clay vessels were produced.

In the second part of the period the [culture] was more widespread and developed, and was modified in various ways. Several types of corn were grown, and beans were added to the list of cultivated foods. Pit houses were the usual form of dwelling, and village life began. Baskets were still widely made. Sandals reached their highest point of development, but twined-woven bags degenerated. Cord used in the making of blankets came to be more commonly wrapped with feathers. Fired pottery was manufactured, and the bow and arrow came into use. This was a most important period, for it provided the foundation for the later culture which, some centuries later, achieved a golden age that marked one of the high points of aboriginal development in North America.

THE DEVELOPMENTAL-PUEBLO PERIOD

Following the Basketmaker era comes the Pueblo [horizon], the second major subdivision of the Anasazi [culture]. The name comes from that given to the village Indians by the Spaniards. “Pueblo” is simply the Spanish word for a community of people, but in the Southwest it has come to have a definite connotation and is used to refer to communal houses and towns and to the inhabitants, both prehistoric and modern.

The Pueblo period, like the Basketmaker, is divided into various phases. Under the classification decided on by archaeologists, meeting at the conference at Pecos in 1927, five phases were recognized. The earliest was called Pueblo I and was defined as “the first stage during which cranial deformation was practiced, vessel neck corrugation was introduced, and villages composed of rectangular living-rooms of true masonry were developed.” The next was named Pueblo II and was characterized as “the stage marked by widespread geographical extension of life in small villages; corrugation, often of elaborate technique, extended over the whole surface of cooking vessels.”[74]

At the present time many archaeologists group both phases under the name Developmental Pueblo.[110] This term, which is used in this book, seems apt, for this was a period of transition which led to the classic Pueblo era. In many ways the [culture] was still a generalized one, as was the one which preceded it, but specialization, which was to become so marked later, was already beginning. Sites belonging to this [phase] are found throughout the Plateau area.

Fig. 19—Developmental-Pueblo diorama in the Museum at Mesa Verde National Park. (Courtesy of Mesa Verde National Park.)

Assigning dates to this period is rather complicated. It might be thought that in dealing with somewhat more recent sites, where tree-ring dates are more commonly available, it would be easy to say that a specific period began at a definite time and ended at another. Actually, such is not the case, for development was far from uniform in all places. In some sections the period which we define as Developmental Pueblo began toward the end of the seventh century; in other areas the earliest date which can be given is in the middle of the ninth century. Terminal dates are equally variable. In some regions this period had ended and the next [phase] of development had begun by the middle of the tenth century, and in others this change did not take place until the twelfth century. In general, the dates 700 to 1100 A. D. may be assigned to the Developmental Pueblo phase, but this represents a simplification of a very [complex] situation.

For many years it had been thought that the people of Basketmaker and those of Pueblo times were of entirely different physical types. The Basketmakers were considered dolichocephalic, or long-headed, and the Pueblos were believed to be brachycephalic, or broad-headed. The first appearance of the latter was thought to mark the advent of an entirely different racial group which became dominant and caused the disappearance of the earlier inhabitants of the region. It was not believed that the Basketmakers were entirely exterminated, but rather that many were assimilated and absorbed by the new group while some were killed and others driven into peripheral areas. Some archaeologists and anthropologists still hold this theory.