Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest

by H. M. Wormington

Fig. 30—Chaco black-on-white pottery of the Great-Pueblo period. (Courtesy The American Museum of Natural History; Taylor Museum photograph.)

In its own way, pottery reached as high a point of development as did architecture. The main wares were black-on-white and corrugated. The former was thin and hard, usually a good white, but sometimes a light gray. Designs were, for the most part, hatchured patterns with the thin filling lines surrounded by heavier boundary lines. Band decorations were widely used. Bowls, pitchers, and ladles were the most usual shapes, but cylindrical vases and [effigy] pots with human figures were not unknown. The cooking ware was corrugated and usually consisted of large jars with wide mouths. This pottery was very well made, with attractive patterns produced by making sharp, clear-cut, indentations in the corrugations. Some red pottery has also been found.

Neither the architecture nor the pottery which we refer to as being of the Chaco-Canyon type was limited to the narrow confines of the canyon itself. They are also represented in such places as the great ruin at Aztec, New Mexico,[94] and at various other sites in the San Juan area. In some cases, particularly in northeastern Arizona, architecture was Chacoan in character, but pottery was not.

At Chaco Canyon, and in other Great-Pueblo centers, various minor arts also flourished. Feather cloth continued to be made, and still provided robes and blankets for the living and wrappings for the dead. Flocks of domesticated turkeys were kept to provide feathers, and parrots and other brilliantly colored birds were brought from the south. Cotton fabrics were steadily increasing in importance. Some large blankets were woven which must have required the use of an upright loom. Colored yarns were used, and there was some painting of finished fabrics. Variations in weaving also provided decoration. There is no evidence that the people wore any tailored garments, but the remains of a poncho with a slit for the head has been found. There were also some garments of dressed buckskin, in addition to those of feather and cotton cloth.

Some sandals with notched toes were woven of fine cord, but this art had degenerated and decoration was less elaborate, both as regards colored and raised patterns. Most sandals were of plaited yucca leaves, and many had square toes. Twined-weaving does not seem to have survived. Coiled baskets were still produced, but they were not plentiful. They were of a finer weave than those of the preceding periods but had fewer colored designs. Yucca ring baskets were extremely common. These were made by fastening the outer edges of a bowl-shaped mat, made of twilled yucca leaves, over a wooden ring. Twilled mats of rushes or reeds, were made in quantity and were widely used as floor and roof coverings. Tubular pipes were made of both clay and stone. These are rarely found whole, and it is thought they may have been intentionally broken—possibly to avoid profanation after use in sacred rites.

It was in the field of ornaments that the minor arts of the Chaco people reached their highest development. Olivella-shell beads were still widely used, and there were also stone beads and stone and shell pendants carved into the form of birds and animals; but it was turquoise which provided the material for the finest ornaments. Some beautiful mosaics were made of turquoise, and it was also used in the making of beads. One incomparable necklace found at Pueblo Bonito contained twenty-five hundred beads and four pendants of magnificent sky blue stones.[71] All were shaped and polished with a skill that would do credit to a modern jeweller with all his highly specialized tools. An unbelievable amount of work must have gone into the production of such an ornament when only stone tools were available. Unfortunately we do not have many such specimens—due to the mystery which surrounds the final disposition of the remains of the ancient inhabitants of Pueblo Bonito.

Although burials are commonly found in the refuse heaps associated with the small dwellings of Chaco Canyon, the majority of the dead of the great communal houses have never been found. Occasional burials have been found but not enough to account for even five per cent of the deaths which must have occurred during the period of occupation. Many of the graves which have been found in abandoned rooms had already been looted by pre-archaeological grave robbers. The few undisturbed interments which have been discovered suggest that grave offerings were extremely rich, and, with such an incentive, archaeologists have searched far and wide for the ancient cemeteries, but, as yet, without success. There is no indication that cremation was practiced, so there is still hope that some day we may find the spot where the ancient people laid the dead to rest, and so learn more of their arts and crafts.

Some idea of the remarkable finds which may yet be made may be gained from a burial found in Ridge Ruin, a Great-Pueblo site about twenty miles east of Flagstaff, Arizona.[88] Here was found the body of a man interred with over six hundred articles, many of which show the most remarkable workmanship. They included pottery, beautiful baskets, fine turquoise mosaics, stone and shell ornaments, and hundreds of finely flaked arrowheads. This was of course an unusual burial, and many of the offerings were ceremonial objects such as would be placed in a grave only under extraordinary circumstances, but it gives some idea of the wealth of material which may yet be found and which will contribute to our knowledge of the ancient Pueblo [culture].

The great dwellings of Chaco Canyon apparently were abandoned in the twelfth century, and there is no doubt a fascinating story connected with the abandonment of these huge buildings which were erected with so much labor and finished with such care. It is a story which we do not yet fully understand, and, to a great extent, we can only guess at the causes which underlay the migration. It was probably the first [phase] of the general movement which eventually involved the entire population of the northern part of the Southwest, but it is even more difficult to account for than some of the later migrations, for there were no particularly severe droughts at this time. There were some dry years, however, which may have led to disastrous arroyo-cutting.

Some of the most famous of all buildings of this period are those of Mesa Verde,[73][95] whose location in high cliffs has led to the use of the name “Cliff Dwellers” for the people who lived here from the middle of the eleventh century until the latter part of the thirteenth. Mesa Verde is a large plateau in the drainage of the Mancos River in southwestern Colorado. Here in great, high caves, protected by massive sandstone overhangs, but open to the sun, were built huge houses which were really cities. These pueblos were in many essentials like those of Chaco Canyon and other open sites, but they seem to have grown by accretion rather than according to a fixed plan, and the shape of the structures was largely determined by that of the caves which sheltered them.