Shell for the background of this NECKLACE PENDANT is from the southern California coast. The turquoise is probably from an area rich in copper.
Customs
The backs of over half the skulls were flattened! This could have occurred because infants were often strapped to rigid cradleboards. Whether this deformation was intentional or not is debatable.
Ponder for a moment
If archeologists examine our gravesites 600 years from now, what will they learn about us?
Survival
Beaver Creek flows regardless of the season! Most of the time it is gentle and clear. However, dry periods may reduce streamflow to a trickle hidden beneath the rocky creekbed. Limbs and twigs are often lodged in the trees along the creek. This debris is evidence of the power and height of rampaging flood waters. The cliff dwellers probably knew and accepted all these moods.
Directly across the creek, buried beneath years of river deposits, are remnants of prehistoric irrigation ditches. They were used to carry creek water into cultivated fields of corn, beans, squash and cotton.