Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest

by H. M. Wormington

From a somewhat later period we have evidence of ancient hunters who made some of the most beautifully flaked stone projectile points that have ever been created. These points, which were first found in Yuma County, Colorado, are known as Yuma or Parallel Flaked Points. They are of two types.[130] One is marked by the removal of long narrow spalls running obliquely across the blade and the other is characterized by the removal of shell-shaped spalls from either side which tends to give the point a diamond shaped cross-section.

Gypsum Cave

Evidence of another early hunting [culture] of the Southwest was found in Gypsum Cave, Nevada.[47] Here were found lozenge-shaped projectile points, about two inches long, with small convex stems. They were associated with the remains of now extinct ground sloth and llamalike camels. The time of the first occupation of Gypsum Cave may have been several thousand years B.C. One thing which makes this find of particular interest is that, due to the protection afforded by the cave, some normally perishable material was preserved. Painted dart shafts and foreshafts were found and also a piece of basketry. Lacking direct association with Gypsum Cave type points or extinct animal remains, it is impossible to state with certainty that the basketry belonged to this ancient culture, but there is every reason to believe that it did, since it was found under a stalagmitic growth and is of a type different from that of later cultures.

Cochise

While hunters roamed the plains farther north there were other people, with a different type of economy, living in what is now southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.[118] This [culture], to which the name Cochise has been given, is believed to have begun over 10,000 years ago and to have lasted until 500 B.C. or later. The chief characteristic of the Cochise culture is the extensive use of grinding stones which suggests that the people were primarily dependent on the gathering of wild grains, nuts, roots, and similar foods. The finding of some split and burned animal bones in the sites where they lived indicates that they did hunt, but the lack of projectile points in the earliest period and their scarcity until the most recent [phase] provides additional evidence that the economy was based on food gathering rather than on hunting.

Fig. 3—Projectile points of the most ancient cultures. a. Sandia, b. Folsom, c. San Jon, d. Eden Yuma, e. Oblique Yuma, f. Gypsum Cave.

As may be imagined, we know comparatively little about the most ancient inhabitants of this continent. However, when one considers the thousands of years which have elapsed and how little of their material [culture] could be preserved since they had neither pottery nor metals, it is rather remarkable that we know as much as we do. At least we know something of the tools and weapons which they used, the animals which they hunted, and the conditions under which they lived.

Apparently the earliest Americans had a rather simple [culture] and did not practice agriculture nor have fixed habitations. Little is known of their physical appearance since only two skeletons have been found in this country which are accepted as being of relatively great antiquity by any considerable number of competent scientists.[69][70] What evidence we have suggests that the first men to enter the new world were sufficiently modern in morphological type to differ very little in appearance from many present day Indians.

The question naturally arises: Where did the aboriginal inhabitants of America come from? Man did not evolve on this continent; therefore he must have come to this hemisphere from the Old World where he had existed for many thousands of years. All evidence points to migrations from Asia and the logical route is by way of Bering Strait where the two continents are separated by only fifty-six miles of water broken by three islands. Later migrants may also have arrived from Asia following a route through the Aleutian Islands. It must be emphasized that it is not believed that there was only one immigration. Actually there must have been many and they apparently continued into relatively recent times.