THE MOST ANCIENT CULTURES
At least 25,000 years ago there were men in New Mexico who lived in
caves and hunted animals, many of which no longer exist. Over 10,000
years ago there were already distinct groups of people in the Southwest,
some of whom were primarily hunters and some of whom were largely
dependent on the gathering of wild foods. Since the most ancient
cultures of North America have already been covered in detail in a
previous book in this series,[130] only a very brief resume will be
given here.
Sandia
The earliest culture of the Western Hemisphere, about which we have any
information, is the _Sandia_,[64] so named because the cave whose
deposits showed that it had been occupied by men about 25,000 years ago
is located in the Sandia Mountains of New Mexico. In the bottom layer of
this cave were found fairly large, crudely flaked stone spear points
with a more or less leaflike shape and a slight basal inset on one side.
With these points were found bones of prehistoric horse, bison, camel,
mastodon, and mammoth, probably the debris from meals of ancient hunters
who lived in the cave. Space does not permit a detailed consideration of
the geological studies[9] which enable us to assign a date to this early
occupation, but above the layer in which the Sandia points were found
there were other layers which included one of calcium carbonate and one
of yellow ochre. Geologists can interpret the climatic conditions under
which such deposits were formed and they have correlated them with
geologic periods when such conditions prevailed. Great humidity, such as
is indicated by the Sandia Cave deposits, is characteristic of certain
areas during glacial stages and the lowest level of Sandia Cave has been
assigned to the period preceding the last major ice advance in the
Pleistocene Period or Ice Age. This glaciation is believed to have
occurred about 25,000 years ago.
Folsom
The most famous of the ancient cultures is the _Folsom_ whose name is
derived from the town of Folsom, New Mexico, near which the first
generally accepted American discovery of man-made objects associated
with the bones of extinct animals was made.[25] Prior to this find,
which was made in 1926, it had been believed that man had not reached
the New World more than a few thousand years before the beginning of the
Christian era. At the Folsom site, however, were found finely flaked
projectile points in clear association with the articulated bones of a
type of bison known to have been extinct for many thousands of years.
These were fluted or grooved points characterized by the removal of
longitudinal flakes from either face. Geological evidence from the
Lindenmeier Site in Colorado, which was a camp site of the makers of the
grooved points, indicates that the Folsom people lived between 10,000
and 25,000 years ago.[11] This conclusion was reached by correlating the
valley bottom in which the site occurs with river terraces and moraines,
which in turn could be related to glacial stages. A number of important
discoveries of fluted points have been made in the Southwest. Two
notable sites are the one near Clovis, New Mexico, and Burnet Cave in
the Guadalupe Mountains.[65]
[Illustration: Fig. 2—Map of the Southwest showing sites referred to
in Chapter II.]
1. Burnet Cave
2. Clovis
3. Cochise sites
4. Folsom
5. Gypsum Cave
6. Lindenmeier Site
7. Sandia Cave
8. San Jon
9. Tabeguache Cave
10. Yuma
San Jon
Probably contemporaneous with the Folsom people were others who made
thick, roughly flaked, square-based points with parallel sides. These
points were first found near the town of San Jon, New Mexico, and are
named after it.[114]
Yuma
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.
[Illustration: 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.
From the time of the earliest cultures until the early centuries of the
Christian era we have little knowledge of prehistoric life in America.
Work is being done and reports are expected which will eventually
clarify much which is now shrouded in darkness. It is not that the
Southwest was uninhabited at this period, it is just that we know very
little about it. It may readily be seen how difficult it is to assemble
evidence for this time. There was undoubtedly only a very simple
material culture with little save stone tools which would survive. Even
though we find implements of this period, however, how are we to assign
them to their proper chronological position? With the most ancient
cultures some approximation of age may be made on the basis of
association with the remains of extinct animals, the climatic conditions
indicated by deposits containing artifacts, and other geological data.
In the case of fairly recent cultures, the invaluable tree-rings come to
our aid and through stratigraphic studies the chronological positions of
the cultures immediately preceding them can be established. For the
intermediate period only stratigraphy can help us very much and
stratigraphic evidence is hard to find. In the Cochise Culture, a
sequence lasting until about 500 B.C. has been worked out and the report
on Ventana Cave in Arizona, when it is published, will undoubtedly give
us much additional information.
[Illustration: Fig. 4—Folsom diorama in the Museum at Mesa Verde
National Park. (Courtesy Mesa Verde National Park.)]
Tabeguache Cave
In the Tabeguache drainage of southwestern Colorado have been found
caves containing stratified deposits, the lowest of which are believed
to be quite old although considerably more recent than the really
ancient cultures previously discussed.[66][67] These deposits contained
lined and unlined firepits and there were little holes, dug in the cave
floor, filled with ashes and charcoal. These are thought to have been
too small to have served any utilitarian purpose and it has been
suggested that they may have been ceremonial in nature. Also found were
grinding stones and a distinctive type of long slender projectile point
with side notches to which the name _Tabeguache Point_ has been applied.
There was no pottery.
Obviously, a great deal of work will have to be done and probably many
years will elapse before we have any clear picture of what was happening
in various parts of the Southwest prior to the time to which we assign
the letters A.D. If only all the descendants of the first people had
stayed in the same place and placed their cultural remains neatly on top
of those of their ancestors, archaeologists would find everything more
simple, though probably rather dull.