Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest

by H. M. Wormington

Greater numbers, or superior organization, might have given them an advantage, but we can hardly believe that the nomads were as numerous or had as good an organization as that of the people of the Pueblos. The region in which they presumably lived would certainly not support a large population, and particularly one with an essentially parasitic economy which did not produce. With such an economy, people cannot live too close together without exhausting the available resources, and a thinly spread population is unlikely to be highly organized.

Great physical superiority may be another factor in the winning of battles between people who have not yet become so civilized as to have machines which will enable one individual to kill thousands of his fellow men. Any physical superiority, however, would seem to rest with the sedentary people who had an assured food supply. Moreover, their life was still sufficiently rugged so that there can hardly be any question of their having been greatly weakened by soft living.

Doubtless, there were sporadic raids by nomads, and these may have had a cumulative effect in upsetting Pueblo economy. The role played by periods of arroyo-cutting and by droughts can certainly not be overlooked. These may well have done more than reduce the food supply. When food is scarce, raids are more likely to occur, and it is entirely probable that the relationship between various groups deteriorated as prosperity decreased. Toward the end of Great-Pueblo times we find increasing signs of warfare in the form of burned buildings and unburied bodies, many of which show evidence of violence. The latter are of the characteristic Pueblo type, however, and would seem to indicate warfare between people of the same blood.

Fig. 28—Types of Great-Pueblo masonry. a. Chaco, b. Mesa Verde, c. Kayenta.

The most logical theory seems to be that many factors contributed to the great change which occurred in the Anasazi province. Doubtless, climatic conditions were the great underlying cause, but there may have been others. We cannot afford to confine our attention entirely to material causes, but must take into consideration even the possibility that fears, engendered by religious beliefs, may have played a part. All this, however, is largely in the realm of conjecture, for, with no written records, there can be no first hand information.

Whatever the causes, the end of the Great-Pueblo period was marked by a redistribution of population and a general trend toward concentration in places where conditions were most favorable. While the chief movement was from the north, there was also some withdrawing from the south. By the beginning of the following period, which is sometimes known as the Regressive-Pueblo [phase], much territory throughout the Plateau area was deserted. Main population centers were confined to the central area of the Plateau. This includes the Little Colorado drainage, particularly the section in the vicinity of the Hopi mesas and the Zuñi region, and the Rio Grande drainage.

Although there were certain traits which characterized the [culture] as a whole during the Great-Pueblo period, there was a somewhat different development in each of the three main culture centers which flourished at this time. In each of these there was an intense local specialization in architecture and in pottery making.

The latter, in fact, became so highly specialized that products of the various areas may be identified no matter where they may be found. No two pieces of pottery of each kind will be exactly alike, but they all conform to a common ideal. It must be stressed that, by [culture] center, we do not mean an entirely restricted area, but rather a nuclear section in which specialization was most intense and from which influence spread, often over a large area.

The oldest settlement, and one which continued to be a cultural leader with far-reaching influences for centuries, lies in the Chaco Canyon of New Mexico.[61][73][95] The Chaco River is a tributary of the San Juan which flows through northwestern New Mexico. Within the canyon are found twelve large ruins, which include some of the most spectacular of the ancient buildings erected in North America, and innumerable smaller ruins. The twelve great communal buildings were more or less rectangular, oval, or D-shaped structures, with up to four stories on three sides, and a single-storied row of rooms which bowed out to the southeast. Within the walls was a great open court or [plaza] which contained numerous kivas. Other kivas were incorporated within the building mass. It is interesting to note that the traditional underground character of the ceremonial chamber was preserved through filling in the space between the circular walls of the [kiva] and the straight walls of the other rooms.