All of these characteristics are to be found in the region north and

northwest of the Colorado River which is known as the _Northern

Periphery_ of the Southwest. During Developmental-Pueblo times a number

of early traits persisted in the Northern Periphery after they had

disappeared in the San Juan country. People continued to live in

earth-covered pit houses and lodges after these had been replaced by

surface masonry structures farther south. In some cases the side passage

still served as an entrance instead of being reduced in size for use as

a ventilator. Slab cists, identical with Basketmaker structures, were

quite common. In the south and east of the periphery some unit houses

were built during late Developmental-Pueblo times, but they were far

inferior to those of the main district. Much crude, gray pottery was

produced, and fugitive-red paint was widely used. Clay figurines and

nipple-shaped objects, characteristic of the Basketmaker culture,

continued to be widely made in the north long after they had disappeared

in the nuclear area. Gaming bones are among the most common artifacts.

Throughout, there is an amalgamation of traits which were separate

elsewhere. In some cases early pottery types are found associated with

houses of a later type; in others it is the pottery which is more

advanced than the houses.

Certain features characteristic of the main Pueblo culture either did

not reach the Northern Periphery, or were not accepted by the

inhabitants. North of the San Juan drainage, sandals and cotton cloth

were not produced. The turkey was not domesticated. There were no

grooved axes and mauls. True kivas have not been found, although there

are some structures which are believed to have been used for ceremonial

purposes.

Other features, which are characteristic of the Northern Periphery, are

not found farther south. Many of these are clearly shown in sites found

in the drainage of the Fremont River of Utah.[97] Here leather moccasins

replaced sandals. These were made of mountain sheep hide with the hair

left on. The portion of the hide containing the dewclaws of the sheep

was attached to the sole in such a way that the dewclaws served as

hobnails. Clay figurines, most of which depicted human females, were

quite elaborate. Also characteristic of the culture, were remarkably

fine rock paintings and pecked drawings of Katchinas or supernatural

beings. In the field of pottery, traits which characterize northern

peripheral wares include raised or appliquéd ornaments and punched

designs. Another distinguishing feature is a unique form of grinding

stone, sometimes called the _Utah-type_ metate. This is a shovel-shaped

stone with a deep trough and a platform at one end containing a

secondary depression.

Although the culture of the Northern Periphery is basically Southwestern

in character and is largely of Modified-Basketmaker and early

Developmental-Pueblo origin, it seems probable that the Anasazi was not

the only influence and that there was some immigration and diffusion of

ideas from the east and the north. People living farther to the north

may also have affected the life of the inhabitants of the Periphery in

other ways. At approximately the end of Developmental-Pueblo times, most

of the marginal area was abandoned. Some archaeologists think that this

was due to pressure from northern nomadic tribes. Only along the

Colorado River, did northerly sites continue to be occupied during the

following period.

Anasazi traits also penetrated to other peripheral areas. Evidence of

Anasazi influence is found in southwestern Texas sites, particularly

those of the Big Bend area, occupied after about 900 A.D. Modified

Basketmaker and Pueblo traits are also found in sites in the valleys of

the Muddy and Virgin rivers in southeastern Nevada. In the Nevada

sites[46] both pit dwellings and above-ground houses with many rooms

have been found. Most of the painted pottery is black-on-gray but some

black-on-white and black-on-red wares also occur. Culinary ware was

corrugated. As in Utah, there were no axes, and the turkey does not

appear to have been domesticated.

[Illustration: Fig. 26—Rosa pit house after excavation. (Courtesy

Columbia University Press.)]

One of the most interesting marginal manifestations is known as the

_Rosa Phase_.[41] Rosa sites have been found in the drainage of the

Governador Wash which lies between the towns of Aztec and Dulce in

north-central New Mexico. Between about 700 and 900 A.D. this region was

occupied by people who lived in very large pit houses. They were also

familiar with surface construction and had above-ground granaries, made

of adobe, which sometimes contained several contiguous rooms. Houses and

granaries were surrounded by stockades made of posts interlaced with

brush. Pottery was not very well made, and consisted to a great extent

of undecorated ware. Many of the vessels were started in baskets. The

small amount of decorated pottery which was produced seems to represent

imitations of other already developed types.

The bones of a great many dogs and turkeys are found in the rubbish

heaps and it is thought that they may have been an important element in

the diet of the people. Dogs, however, probably had some significance

other than as a source of food, for some were so old and toothless that

they may have died of old age. Also, dogs were found buried in every

grave.

Burial customs differed from those of other areas. In some cases, bodies

seem to have been exposed and allowed to decompose, at least partially,

before the bones were buried. There was no deformation of the skull in

any of burials uncovered.

SUMMARY

Returning to the subject of the Developmental-Pueblo period in the

nuclear portion of the Anasazi region, we may summarize by saying that

this was a time of transition. Pit houses were first used as dwellings,

and then, becoming more highly specialized, were used as ceremonial

structures. Surface granaries gave rise to above-ground houses. Walls

were first predominantly of poles and adobe, later of masonry. Large

structures with numerous contiguous rooms became increasingly common.

Pottery improved in quality and an increasing number of wares were

represented, including corrugated cooking ware. Axes and hoes were added

to the assemblage of implements. Cotton began to be grown, and fabrics

were produced by loom weaving. These statements, however, only indicate

general trends, for there was no real uniformity of cultural

development. There were differences between various sections of the

country, and there were also variations within the same area. With the

end of Developmental-Pueblo times, however, all of the basic Pueblo

traits were established, and the stage was set for the flowering of the

high culture of the next period which has been called the “Golden Age”

of the Anasazi.

THE GREAT-PUEBLO PERIOD

The phase which followed Developmental-Pueblo times is the one best

known to the general public, for it was during this time that there were

built the great communal houses, whose impressive ruins in our National

Monuments and Parks draw thousands of fascinated visitors every year.

This is the period of the Cliff Dwellers who built the remarkable

structures of Mesa Verde and then, apparently, disappeared into the

mists of time. Much of the mystery which surrounds these people in the

public mind is unnecessary, but there is still enough of the remarkable

in their achievements, and in their disappearance from their old haunts,

to intrigue the imagination.

This period is also known as _Classic Pueblo_ or _Pueblo III_, but is

now aptly called the _Great-Pueblo_[110] period, for it marks the time

when this culture reached the pinnacle of its development. Its general

characteristics were summarized in the Pecos classification which

defined Pueblo III as: “the stage of large communities, great

development of the arts, and growth of intensive local

specialization.”[74]

There is some disagreement as to the date which should be assigned to

the beginning of Great-Pueblo times, for cultural development was not

equal in all sections of the Plateau. In some areas, people were still

living as they had in Developmental-Pueblo times, while, in others,

Great-Pueblo traits were well established. Since specialization became

so marked that various cultural centers must be considered separately,

it is best, in most cases, to give dates for this period in terms of

specific areas. There is, however, some agreement as to the ending date.

In general it may be said that Great-Pueblo times began, in most places,

about 1050 A.D. and lasted until the end of the thirteenth century, when

the whole northern portion of the Plateau was abandoned.

The greatest change from the preceding period was in the realm of

architecture. There were a great many unit houses, in which a fairly

large percentage of the population lived, but big “apartment houses,” up

to five stories in height and containing hundreds of rooms, were also

built. This change naturally affected not only the living conditions of

the people, but influenced their whole life, for people living together

in a closely-knit community will develop differently from the way they

would in widely scattered settlements.

[Illustration: Fig. 27—Great-Pueblo diorama in the Museum at Mesa

Verde National Park showing Spruce Tree House. (Courtesy Mesa Verde

National Park.)]

When a population is broken up into small independent units and

scattered over a wide area, there is not likely to be any need or desire

for overall government, and authority is usually vested in the person of

the head of the family or clan. As the size of the group increases and

life becomes increasingly complex, some centralization of power is

inevitable. Cooperation between individuals and groups of individuals

becomes not only desirable but essential. In such an undertaking as the

building of a huge structure, containing hundreds of rooms, there must

be cooperation. With the occupation of such a building, when as many as

a thousand people may be living under one roof, the need for working

together continued. With greater cooperation, leisure is likely to

increase, although sometimes this greater freedom is limited to a ruling

caste which makes great demands on the time of other individuals. This

does not appear to have been the case among the ancient Pueblo people as

they seem to have had an essentially democratic form of government.

With added leisure, there is usually increasing development in the arts

and in religion. As more time can be devoted to religious practices,

ceremonies tend to become more elaborate and more formalized. Often a

priestly caste will arise which, as in the case of the concentration of

secular power, may result in autocracy. The Pueblos seem to have avoided

this danger too. The many kivas suggest that religion and its ceremonial

expression must have played a strong part in their daily lives, as it

does today. Undoubtedly there were priests who were figures of

importance in the community, but there is no evidence that they wielded

an autocratic power which gave them great material advantages over other

members of the group.

Community living will have other far-reaching influences. When only a

small family group is living together, it must be almost entirely

self-sufficient and must produce practically everything which it uses.

As the group increases in size, specialization also tends to increase.

For example, a woman who makes exceptional baskets, but is not a

particularly skillful potter, may come to specialize in the making of

baskets which she can exchange for pottery made by someone who produces

a finer ware. Familiarity with the work of others will also stimulate

development, for new ideas will have a wider distribution and

competition will serve as a stimulating factor.

There was no basic change in type of structure, for the great houses

were, in a sense, much enlarged and modified unit houses. The great

change lay in the joining together of great numbers of people. It must

not be thought, however, that all of the people lived in huge communal

dwellings such as those of Mesa Verde or Chaco Canyon. Actually many

groups continued to live in unit houses at a considerable distance from

the main centers, and many of the so-called great houses contained only

a small number of rooms. The really big houses were in the minority and

would appear to have been capable of sheltering only a small fraction of

the total population.

There was undoubtedly a general trend toward a coalescence of the

population, however, and it is interesting to speculate on the reason

for this tendency. The fact that the great houses were admirably suited

to defense has given rise to the theory that the people began to move

together for protection against an outside enemy. There can be no doubt

that the need for defense was taken into consideration in the building

of the big structures, but this cannot be the whole answer. There is

some evidence of violence, but not a great deal. The utmost care was

taken in the construction of the great houses, and much time-consuming

work went into decoration. When danger threatens, speed becomes the

primary consideration, and the amenities of life are sacrificed. There

were many small houses in which a good portion of the population lived,

and these were not always in locations suitable for defense. Since

defense obviously was a consideration in the minds of the builders of

the great houses, and since there is some evidence of violence and

bloodshed, we cannot discount the role which warfare may have played in

architectural development, but it seems certain that this was not the

only factor which influenced this development.

Another interesting theory has been proposed.[81] It is based on the

fact that, not only was there great building activity during this

period, but also that there was much restlessness and moving about.

Walls were torn down and rebuilt, and many buildings were abandoned and

new ones erected, without any reason that is apparent from

archaeological evidence. It has been suggested that this restlessness

and the intensity with which building activities were pursued may have

been an outlet for the repressions and inhibitions of a group which had

a cultural pattern with set rules against violence and excess. There is

great variation among the different groups which make up the Pueblo

Indians of today, but, in many cases, they have a cultural pattern that

upholds the golden mean and discourages all extremes.[4] Such a way of

life might well produce certain repressions which would result in a

general restlessness and desire for change and activity.

The chief objection to this theory lies in the defensive character of

the great houses, which would suggest that violence was not unknown. In

times of war, desire for change and action is readily satisfied, and

socially approved reasons are provided for breaking away from many of

the established rules of society. Undoubtedly, though, the urge which

resulted in the creation of great community dwellings which were in

essence city-states, came to some extent from within the people

themselves and was not entirely the result of outside influences. Many

factors undoubtedly played a part, but the building of the big houses

must, in some measure, be regarded as an architectural vogue which, to a

great extent, stemmed from the desires as well as the needs of the

people.

The causes which led to the abandonment of the great houses and which

resulted in the end of this phase of Pueblo development are just as

difficult to understanding as are those which led to their being

constructed in the first place. By 1300 A.D., the entire northern

section of the Plateau had been deserted. This was not the result of a

single mass migration, but rather of a wide general movement. First one

big center and then another was deserted. Even in these centers

themselves, all the inhabitants did not leave at the same time; rather

it seems that small groups drifted away, a few at a time. Eventually,

though, the entire northern frontier was deserted, and no living person

who had contributed to the growth and flowering of the culture remained.

Naturally, this strange departure has given rise to much conjecture. It

would be pleasant to be able to say that such and such a cause produced

this result. Unfortunately, anything connected with the human race is

rarely quite so simple.

The invaluable tree-rings have not only provided us with dates for

various events, but have given us information about climatic conditions

which undoubtedly had a tremendous effect on the movements of the people

with whom we are concerned. From tree-ring records we know that during

the centuries when the hopes and fears of the prehistoric Pueblo Indians

were centered on their crops there were bad years as well as good ones.

We know of periods when rainfall was below normal, and of others when

there were real droughts. Most of these were of short duration, however,

until the disastrous period between 1276 and 1299 when there was

practically no rain, and the Southwest suffered an extremely severe

drought. It was during this period that the northern frontier was

finally abandoned, and the people moved to new localities. Some

archaeologists have felt that the disappearance of the Pueblos from

their old homes can be traced entirely to this disastrous drought. If

all the communities had been abandoned at the same time, this would be a

logical assumption. Actually, the time of the abandonment of all of the

main centers does not fall between these two dates. Some were deserted

prior to the beginning of the great drought and a few continued to be

occupied after the dry period had begun.

One of the most interesting theories yet advanced is based on the

suggestion that a really severe drought was not necessary to upset the

economy of the Pueblo farmers.[10][39] Some dry farming was practiced

and there was some ditch irrigation, but the greatest dependence seems

to have been on flood-water farming in valley bottoms. This is a system

whereby water is simply diverted and distributed through the fields when

floods come down the valley. During periods when rainfall is deficient,

although not sufficiently so to warrant the use of the term drought,

steep channels, known as _arroyos_, are cut into flood plains; the

water-table is lowered, and flood-water fields become useless. Not only

may the fields themselves be dissected by the arroyo cutting, but water

can no longer be diverted for flood irrigation. If, as seems probable,

the great drought was only the climax of a period of increasing dryness

when much farmland was lost through arroyo-cutting, it is not hard to

understand why the Pueblo farmers might move on to more favored

localities.

Another theory advanced to explain the departure of the ancient

agriculturists, and one which has enthusiastic supporters, is that they

were driven from their homes by fierce nomadic tribes who were attracted

by the wealth of food stored in their granaries.[73] Much of this

thinking is based on what we know of nomadic raids in general, and the

records of the terrible Navajo and Apache depredations from the middle

of the seventeenth century until their comparatively recent subjugation

by the United States Army. For years it has been the practice simply to

accept the belief that fierce warlike tribes had preyed on the peaceful

Pueblos for centuries. More recently, however, some searching questions

have been asked, and this theory is under close scrutiny.[80]

It is granted that the type of construction employed in the Great-Pueblo

era indicates some need for defense, but it does not show against whom

the defense was needed. Assuming that there were nomadic tribesmen,

ready and anxious to carry away the patiently accumulated wealth of the

Pueblos, we must ask ourselves what advantage they would have had over

their victims which would have enabled them to carry out their

depredations. If the nomads had been mounted, as they were in later

times, they would have had the advantages of speed and mobility which

are essential for surprise attacks—the only type which would be of much

avail against a heavily fortified structure. Only much later, however,

were horses introduced into the Southwest; and at this time the

attackers would have had to travel on foot.

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.

[Illustration: 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.

[Illustration: Fig. 29—Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon National

Monument, New Mexico. (Courtesy National Park Service.)]

One of the largest and most famous Chacoan structures is called Pueblo

Bonito.[71] It was a town, consisting of a single building, which

covered over three acres of ground and contained at least eight hundred

rooms. It has been estimated that it could have sheltered 1200

inhabitants, and it was the largest “apartment house” in the world until

a larger one was erected in New York in 1882. Building had begun at

Pueblo Bonito as early as 919 A.D., but it did not reach its final form

until 1067 A.D. or later. It is believed that the more definitely

planned settlement may have been the work of new and more progressive

people who moved into the area.

Pueblo Bonito, as it stands today after archaeologists have cleared away

the dust of centuries and exposed it to view, is truly a remarkable

structure. Even in ruins, it is not too difficult to picture it as it

must have been during those long ago times when it was one of the great

cultural centers of the Southwest. On three sides of the center court

was the main building, terraced back from a one-story level in front to

four stories in the rear. With each succeeding row of rooms the height

was increased by one story. Extending from the ends and enclosing the

side to the south was a one-story row of rooms. Outside of this single

tier was the rubbish heap around which retaining walls were built. The

center court contained numerous kivas, and others were incorporated in

the building mass.

In addition to the regular kivas, whose diameter rarely exceeded

twenty-five feet, there have also been found in Chaco Canyon, Aztec, and

other sites with Chacoan architecture, big circular structures with

diameters of from forty to sixty feet ringed by a concentric row of

small rooms. These are known as _Great Kivas_. They are thought to have

been religious edifices which served an entire community, while the

smaller kivas probably belonged to various clans or societies. Great

Kivas, though in a simpler form, were apparently present as far back as

Modified-Basketmaker times when most rites were performed in dwellings,

but a larger place was needed for ceremonies in which the people of a

whole community or district participated.

Architecture in general reached its highest development in Chaco Canyon,

and there was real beauty as well as solidity of construction. The walls

were massive, although there was a decrease in thickness with succeeding

stories, as the weight resting upon them was reduced. The most

distinctive type of masonry consisted of a center portion of stone and

adobe or rubble, faced on two sides by a veneer of horizontally laid

thin, tabular stones. These are so perfectly fitted together that a

knife blade can scarcely be inserted between them. Sometimes this

particular type of stone was not available and it was necessary to use

more massively bedded stones which had to be dressed to the proper

shape, but the masonry was uniformly good. Great beams, stripped of bark

and beautifully dressed, were placed across the chambers. Small poles,

which were finished with equal care, were placed at right angles to the

main beams and so spaced as to form patterns. Over these lay carefully

fashioned mats of peeled willow, followed by a cedar splint layer. A

thick coat of earth overlay the entire mass, forming a floor for the

room above as well as a roof for the one below.

The use of big logs, which do not bear the scars indicative of

transportation over a long distance, and the common use of willow, which

must have been abundant, suggest conditions different from those of

today. It is not known with certainty whether there has been a real

climatic change. Many believe that, when hoofed animals were introduced

by the white man, the grass cover was destroyed, and that this led to

the cutting of arroyos which carried off flood waters and lowered the

underground seepage and as a result the land became progressively drier,

but others believe that there were earlier periods of arroyo-cutting.

Although severe erosion did not occur until a later time, it was a

process with which the ancient inhabitants of Pueblo Bonito were

familiar. Overlooking the Pueblo was a tremendous rock with an estimated

weight of 30,000 tons, detached from the cliff and seeming so

precariously balanced as to threaten the building. At the foot of the

rock the prehistoric inhabitants erected a brace of wood and stone

masonry. At first glance it seems a rather pathetic effort, but actually

it may not show any ignorance on the part of the ancient Bonitians, but

rather a familiarity with certain engineering principles which suggested

that protecting the base of the rock would curtail erosion and help to

prevent the threatened disaster. The fears of the prehistoric

inhabitants were never realized in their time, for it was not until

January 22, 1941, that the threatening rock finally fell. It damaged one

hundred feet of the back wall of the pueblo and twenty-one adjacent

rooms.

Rooms in Chaco-Canyon structures were relatively large and high

ceilinged, with plastered walls. The inner rooms, which lacked light and

air, were used for storage. Household activities were not confined to

the rooms, for the roofs of the lower tiers provided additional living

space, and much work, such as the preparing of food, the making of

pottery, and the flaking of arrowheads, probably took place in the open.

Fire places are rare in the rooms, and it seems likely that much of the

cooking was done outside—in the courts and on the roofs. At first there

were doorways and high windows in the outer wall, but these were later

blocked off with masonry. The single gateway in the front of the pueblo

was first greatly narrowed and then entirely closed, so that the great

house could be entered only by means of a ladder which, if necessary,

could be withdrawn. This is some of the best evidence of the fear of

attack which must have existed.

[Illustration: 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.

There are certain unmistakable differences between the architecture and

pottery of Chaco Canyon and of Mesa Verde. As in the case of the Chaco

culture, Mesa Verde traits were not confined to the type locality, but

had a far-reaching influence. Numerous ruins with the same basic

characteristics, but not necessarily in caves, are found along the

Mancos River and for some distance to the east and to the west. After

the abandonment of the Mesa Verde proper, the influence became quite

important in the south.

At Mesa Verde walls were thinner than in the Chacoan houses. This can

probably be traced to the material used, as well as to the fact that the

cave ceilings somewhat limited the height of the buildings, and with the

reduced strain, thick walls were not needed. Flat tabular stones were

not available, and walls were constructed of massive stone which was

shaped into large, loaflike, blocks by pecking. Walls were of solid rock

with no center fill of rubble or earth, and little mortar was used.

[Illustration: Fig. 31—Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park,

Colorado.]

Of the many ruins in Mesa Verde National Park the most famous, and also

the largest, is Cliff Palace.[125] With its many rooms and great stone

towers it does give the impression of a palace, but this is of course a

misnomer. Far from being the palace of a ruler, it was the home of

hundreds of farmers and their families. Cliff Palace is a terraced

building reaching to four stories in height in some places and

containing over two hundred rooms and twenty-three kivas. The rooms were

small, often irregularly shaped, and had low ceilings. Not all of them

were used as living quarters. Some were used for storage. Storage must

have been of great importance, since grain designed for winter food, as

well as seed corn, had to be preserved. Also, it is probable that these

ancient farmers accumulated large reserves to tide them over years when

the crops failed, as do their present-day descendants. Other rooms

contained boxlike structures of stone slabs which held metates, and

these are thought to have been milling rooms in which the corn was

ground. The living rooms, each one occupied by one family, were small

and probably none too comfortable.

Some rooms were entered through the roofs but others had doors and

windows. Even when doors were present, they were small and high above

the floor and were probably reached by ladders. Few of the rooms

contained fireplaces. The smoke from a fire in a small room with

inadequate ventilation would present a definite problem, but life in the

winter in an unheated room in a high canyon would not seem particularly

appealing to present-day Americans. The walls of the houses were neatly

plastered, sometimes colored and sometimes embellished by well painted

designs.

The small size of the rooms has often given rise to a belief that the

inhabitants were abnormally small. Actually the people were of normal

size, but they probably did not spend much time in the rooms. Much of

the life of the great house must have centered about the open courts and

terraced roofs. When the men were not working in the fields or hunting

on the mesa tops, they must have spent much time in their kivas, which

may have served as habitations for the unmarried men and general meeting

places, as well as providing a setting for the religious rites. While we

cannot be sure what these ceremonies were, it seems certain that they

were concerned with the well-being of the crops, which must be the first

concern of all farmers, and that their form and content must have been

greatly influenced by the ever present need of water which has always

dominated life in the Southwest.

Most of the kivas were small circular structures, about thirteen feet in

diameter, with the wall set back a foot or more, some three feet above

the floor, to form an encircling bench. On this bench were six masonry

pilasters which helped to support a cribbed roof. The spaces between

pilasters formed recesses. The one to the south was the deepest and

contained the ventilator flue. The deflector, which stood between it and

the center fire pit, was usually of masonry, but sometimes of wattle

work. In addition to these circular kivas, which were the normal type,

there were also circular or rectangular rooms with rounded corners which

seem to have had a ceremonial nature, although they lacked the usual

kiva features and were not subterranean, though surrounded by high

walls. For the most part kivas lay in the front of the cave, but there

were also some in the rear.

In addition to the various rooms and kivas there were also towers,

sometimes incorporated in the building-mass of the great house, and

sometimes built separately. They had various shapes, including round,

oval, D-shaped, and rectangular. Some were two stories high. There were

doorways in the side, but no windows. There are many theories as to the

use of these towers, but there are some objections to all of them. One

is, that they were designed as observation posts to watch for enemies,

or as fortresses. They are usually loop-holed and, when found at a

distance from the dwelling, are often on easily defended points which

command a good view of the adjoining terrain. This, however, is not

invariably the case, for some of the isolated towers are so placed that

there would be little visibility, and defense would be extremely

difficult. Many are far too small to have served as fortresses. Another

theory is that they may have had some ceremonial use, and may have

served as solar observatories to obtain calendrical data essential in

the planting and harvesting of crops and fixing of dates for religious

rites connected with these activities. Some, however, are located in

spots not suitable for making such observations.

Across the canyon from Cliff Palace is a remarkable surface-structure

known as “Sun Temple”, which some archaeologists consider an elaborate

form of tower. This is an unroofed D-shaped building with double walls

over twelve feet high. The space between the walls is divided into small

rooms, and there are ten other rooms at the west end of the building.

There is one kiva in this western section and two others in the big

center court enclosed by the walls.

Life in Mesa Verde, as in all the Pueblo area, depended on agriculture.

There was dry farming on the mesa tops, but irrigation was particularly

well developed here.[7] A broad, shallow ditch, some four miles long,

and with a very regular gradient has been found on the Mesa Verde.

Apparently water was turned out on the cornfields from this ditch. There

were also check dams which caught the run-off of heavy summer rains and

made it available for the crops. They served a further purpose in

conserving soil which might otherwise have been washed away. Reservoirs

were present and must have also provided water for the fields, but they

have not yet been studied sufficiently for us to have much information

as to their construction or use.

Mesa Verde pottery is as distinctive as its architecture. Fine

corrugated vessels were made, and a small percentage of imported red

pottery was present, but the outstanding ware was black-on-white. This

pottery has certain distinctive features which make it easy to

recognize. The walls are fairly thick, and rims tend to be square and

flat. The background is a pearly white with grayish undertones. Most

vessels have been so carefully polished that they have a glossy surface

which sometimes almost gives an impression of translucence. The

decoration, applied with black paint, is usually in the form of

geometric patterns, although a few bowls show life-forms in their

designs. Band patterns were extremely common, and many large solid

elements as well as hatchured patterns were used. The latter tend to be

much coarser than those on Chaco pottery. The most distinctive forms

were flat-bottomed mugs, which resemble beer steins, and “kiva jars.”

The latter are vessels in the form of a somewhat flattened sphere, with

fitted covers resting on an inner rim, as do those of modern sugar

bowls. There were also many bowls, ollas (water jars), ladles, canteens,

and seed jars.

[Illustration: Fig. 32—Mesa Verde black-on-white pottery of the

Great-Pueblo period. (Courtesy Mesa Verde National Park.)]

The minor arts of Mesa Verde seem to have been much like those of Chaco

Canyon, but neither material nor craftsmanship appears to have been as

good. Again, the scarcity of burials has reduced the chances of

obtaining much valuable information. In open sites they have been found

occasionally in refuse heaps, but more often they occur in pits under

floors of houses which continued to be occupied, or in abandoned rooms.

At Mesa Verde a few burials have been found in refuse heaps behind the

houses, a few under the floors of abandoned rooms, and others in the

cracks and crevices of the talus slope in front of the caves. There is

also some evidence of occasional cremations.[24] On mesa tops, have been

found a few stone rings overlying calcined human bones, and one room in

Cliff Palace was found to contain ashes and human bones. There is no

evidence, however, that cremation was widely practiced, and the few

graves which have been found would account for only a small fraction of

the deaths which must have occurred during the period of occupancy. It

is believed probable that most burials may have been in the refuse heaps

in front of the caves and that they have weathered away.

The last building date we have for Mesa Verde is 1273, but it is

possible that the great houses may have been occupied for some time

after this. The final date of departure probably falls within the period

of the disastrous drought of 1276 to 1299, when the farmers of Mesa

Verde must have been fighting a losing battle against overwhelming odds.

The departure seems to have been an orderly one, for the people took

most of their possessions with them. There does not seem to have been

any one, great migration. Rather it appears that first one section, and

then another, was abandoned as one or more small groups moved on. The

abandonment of the cliff houses has given rise to many fantastic

stories, and there has grown up a certain belief that the “Cliff

Dwellers” more or less disappeared into thin air. Certainly there is

enough mystery connected with this strange departure, but great numbers

of people do not simply vanish. Actually, they moved farther and farther

south, and perhaps to the southeast and southwest, looking for more

favorable locations. As they mingled with other groups they lost their

identity, but doubtless there is still a strain of Mesa Verde blood in

the present Pueblo Indian population. Perhaps the Indian, whom we see

selling jewelry in the lobby of some modern Southwestern hotel, had

ancestors who helped build the ancient city which we know as Cliff

Palace.

In addition to sites which were occupied by people with a Chacoan

culture and those inhabited by people with Mesa Verde affiliations,

there are others which show both influences at different periods. Lowry

Ruin,[81] not far from Mesa Verde in southwestern Colorado, contains a

Pueblo and a Great Kiva with Chacoan Masonry. The early pottery was not

entirely like that found in sites in the Chaco Canyon itself, but

closely resembled it. It must be emphasized that _Chacoan_ is simply a

term which refers to a generalized culture, and not just to the sites of

the type locality. In the top portion of the fill of some rooms at Lowry

Ruin is found Mesa Verde black-on-white pottery. It is not known whether

this indicates the presence of Mesa Verde people, or if only the

pottery, or perhaps even the technique, was introduced. We do know,

however, that Lowry Pueblo was occupied, abandoned, and then reoccupied

a number of times from the time when it was first built, late in the

eleventh century, until it was finally deserted, about the middle of the

twelfth century. This is one of the sites which does much to upset

certain theories as to the causes of the abandonment of the northern

frontier. It was not prepared for defense, and had entrances on the

ground level, and there is no indication of any violence. Final

abandonment came long before the great drought of 1276 to 1299.

An even more famous site is that of Aztec,[94] now a National Monument,

which lies one mile north of the town of Aztec, New Mexico. Here were

built a big communal house and Great Kiva with Chacoan masonry. The

ground plans were almost identical with those of Chettro Kettle, one of

the important structures of Chaco Canyon. The main building was in the

shape of a square “U”, with an arc-shaped row of rooms in front. More

famous than the Pueblo itself is the “House of the Great Kiva.” This

remarkable structure was essentially circular, and consisted of a large

kiva surrounded by a concentric ring of arc-shaped surface-rooms. The

kiva, which was encircled by two benches or shelves, was forty-one feet

across at floor level and forty-eight feet in diameter at the level of

the second bench. In the floor were two large, masonry-lined, sub-floor

vaults and a masonry box, midway between the south ends of the vaults,

which is believed to have been a fire altar. The twelve rooms

surrounding the kiva are not stained and littered, as are the usual

living quarters, so it seems certain that they were strictly ceremonial

chambers. On the south side is an alcove, opening directly into the

kiva, which is thought to have been a shrine room. A rectangle of

masonry in the center of the alcove was presumably a permanent altar.

[Illustration: Fig. 33—Betatakin, Navajo National Monument, Arizona.

(Courtesy National Park Service.)]

Some of the living rooms in the pueblo bear evidence of Mesa Verde

workmanship, and almost 95% of the pottery is of the Mesa Verde type.

This gave rise to the belief that Aztec was a hybrid settlement of

people of both cultures. Excavation proved that the explanation was not

quite so simple. The original builders of the Pueblo and Great Kiva had

Chacoan connections. They occupied the Pueblo for many years, then,

taking their possessions with them, they moved away. Why they left, or

where they went, we do not know. For a long time the Pueblo was

abandoned, then a group of Mesa Verde people arrived and moved in. They

changed and modified many of the rooms in accordance with their own

customs. The rooms which they built were smaller and the masonry was of

the typical Mesa Verde type, as was the pottery. After this immigration

the great house was occupied for a long time. At first the people were

quite prosperous, but eventually there came a period of depression and

disintegration. Building techniques became progressively worse, and

there was an equal deterioration in pottery making. Living quarters were

no longer cleaned. Many women and children died, and, when they were

buried few, if any, mortuary offerings were placed with them. The end

came when the pueblo was intentionally fired and destroyed. Whether this

was done by the people themselves, or by enemies who attacked them when

they were no longer able to defend themselves, we do not know.

In the vicinity of Kayenta, Arizona, which lies to the south of the San

Juan and west of both Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon, was a third cultural

center with far-reaching influences.[3][73] Here are found both cliff

houses and pueblos in the open. Two of the largest and most famous cliff

dwellings are Keet Seel and Betatakin. These were among the last of the

great houses of the San Juan area to be occupied. Tree-ring dates for

Betatakin range between 1260 and 1277, and those for Keet Seel between

1274 and 1284. By the latter date the remainder of the northern frontier

had been almost entirely deserted.

The masonry throughout was quite inferior. It was somewhat better in the

open sites, which were characterized by loose aggregations of houses,

than in the cliff houses. On the whole, masonry was marked by the use of

irregularly shaped stones, inaccurate coursing, and the use of great

quantities of adobe mortar. Also, wattlework walls, that is, walls

formed of upright poles through which were interwoven smaller sticks,

were quite common. One of the chief differences between the Kayenta area

and other cultural centers lies in the kivas. In open sites and in some

cliff houses, of which Bat Woman House is a good example, only circular

kivas are found, but they lack the pilasters characteristic of such

structures in other sections. At Keet Seel there are some kivas, but

many of the ceremonial structures are of another type, sometimes called

_kihus_. These are square above-ground chambers which contain the

characteristic fire pits and deflectors of kivas, but have a door

instead of an air shaft. At Betatakin this is the only type of

ceremonial room.

Pottery from this area differs in many respects from that of the eastern

sites. Corrugated pottery was made, but it displays poorer workmanship

and less graceful shapes than examples from Chaco and Mesa Verde.

Black-on-white ware was excellent, with a good paste and a clear slip.

The decoration is fine and quite distinctive. Elaborate patterns,

primarily interlocking keys, frets, and spirals, were used. The

elements, painted in black, are so close together and so heavy that

little of the white background shows and a negative design results,

giving the impression of a white design on a black background. What

little of the white background does appear is often hatched or

cross-hatched, giving what has been described as a “mosquito bar”

effect. The principal forms were ollas, bowls, and ladles. Seed jars and

small handled jugs were also made, but they were not as common. An

important form was the colander, a type of utensil which was confined to

this culture.

[Illustration: Fig. 34—Black-on-white pottery from the Kayenta area.

Great-Pueblo period. (Courtesy Museum of Northern Arizona.)]

The most distinctive Kayenta pottery was a polychrome ware on which, as

the name implies, multiple colors were used. The base color was orange

or yellow, and designs were applied in black, red, and white paint.

There was a wide use of broad, red bands outlined in black or in black

and white. Coarse hatchures divided into groups, with other design

elements between the groups, were quite common. There was an abundance

of this ware, although bowls and small handled jugs were the only forms

represented.

Very few burials have been found in the cliff houses. A small number

have been uncovered in unoccupied sections of the caves, in the talus

slope in front, and in small shelters nearby. In open sites closely

flexed bodies accompanied by mortuary pottery have been found in oval

pits dug in the rubbish heaps.

Although attention is naturally centered on the San Juan region, where

the Great Pueblo culture had its most spectacular development and where

the most extensive excavations have been carried on, the remainder of

the Plateau Province cannot be overlooked.

Sixteen miles from Zuñi, in the Little Colorado drainage, is a famous

site, known as the “Village of the Great Kivas.”[108] Here were found

three communal dwellings and two Great Kivas. Of the latter, only one

has been excavated. It was bordered with rooms but had no true

peripheral chambers. Both are larger than the Great Kiva at Aztec. The

one which has been excavated is fifty-one feet in diameter, and the

unexcavated one is seventy-five feet across. In addition to these

structures and some small kivas associated with the largest building,

there were two rectangular rooms with kiva features. These are similar

to the fraternity chambers used in Zuñi at the present time. The

construction of the village was begun in the eleventh century by people

with a Chacoan culture. After a time, due to the arrival of new people,

the community increased in size. It is thought that these people came

from the south, possibly from the Upper Gila region.

To the west, in what we now know as the Hopi country, good-sized Pueblos

were being constructed. There was much black-on-white and gray

corrugated pottery and, in the latter part of the period, fine pottery

with black designs on an orange background was made. Kivas were

rectangular or D-shaped. To the south and east of this region a

particularly fine polychrome ware was being made. Black and white

designs were applied on an orange-red background.

Still farther south, in the vicinity of Fort Apache, Arizona, is

Kinishba, a Great-Pueblo site occupied between 1050 and 1350 A. D. It

combined three pueblos, of which two have been excavated. The main

building is an irregularly rectangular structure, built around a big

central court, which seems to have grown by accretion rather than

according to fixed plan. The masonry was not particularly good. The

stones were not carefully shaped, and there was an extensive use of

mortar. Many fine ornaments were made. Kinishba appears to have been

something of a trade center, and pottery characteristic of many

different areas is found here. One distinctive type of pottery which was

made locally was a polychrome ware with red and black designs on a buff

background.

The Rio Grande drainage, to the east, did not become a very important

province until the following period, but there is evidence of the

presence of a scattered population as far back as Developmental-Pueblo

times. Eventually, migrations from the north brought in many new people.

Prior to that time architecture was not highly developed. There was

little coursed masonry, but extensive use of adobe. Some rather inferior

black on white pottery of a generalized type and a poor corrugated ware

were manufactured, and a little black-on-red pottery was imported.

In the Mimbres drainage of southwestern New Mexico, lived a group of

people who, during the Great-Pueblo Period, made some of the most

remarkable pottery that has ever been produced. Although they are often

considered as part of the Anasazi, much of their development was due to

two other cultures as well. Because of this, discussion of the Mimbres

people and their achievements will be postponed until the other cultures

have been considered.

The Largo-Gallina Phase

In the Largo drainage of north-central New Mexico some extremely

interesting remains of a Pueblolike people have been found.[91]

Chronologically they fit into Great-Pueblo times, but they are not

entirely Anasazi in culture. The name _Largo_ has been given to this

cultural phase. Tree-ring dates have been obtained in Largo sites, and

it is possible to place the period of occupation as extending from the

beginning of the twelfth to the middle of the thirteenth century.

The inhabitants of these sites lived in both pit and surface houses.

These structures are relatively large. The latter have massive walls of

uncoursed masonry up to four feet thick. All dwellings contained

low-walled storage bins. Although more evidence will be needed before

definite conclusions may be reached, it seems possible to show a

definite architectural development from pit houses to the thick walled

surface houses of uncoursed masonry which were followed by others with

coursed masonry walls. Other, presumably later, structures may be

described as small pueblos, but these have not yet been thoroughly

investigated.

[Illustration: Fig. 35—Largo surface house.]

[Illustration: Largo artifacts, a. pointed-bottomed pot, b. axe, c.

arrow-shaft smoother. (Courtesy Laboratory of Anthropology.)]

Black-on-white pottery, which was Puebloan in character, was made, but

most of the utility ware was unlike anything made elsewhere by the

Anasazi. These vessels had pointed bottoms and were decorated with

fillets at the rim or just below. They were not scraped, but were

smoothed by holding a mushroom-shaped object inside the vessel, while it

was still plastic, and striking the exterior with a wooden paddle. This

is known as the _paddle-and-anvil_ technique. These vessels resemble

Woodland pottery from the eastern United States and Navajo cooking pots.

Other distinctive artifacts included axes of a triple-notched type which

required a T-shaped hafting, arrow-shaft smoothers, and elbow-shaped

pipes. The smoothers are large pieces of fine grained rock with deep

grooves in which arrow shafts were rubbed in the process of shaping

them. On the bowls of the pipes were two little leglike projections

which served to provide a base when they were not in use. There was an

extensive use of antler.

To the east of the Largo country and on the other side of the

continental divide are found similar sites which represent the same

culture. This phase has been called the Gallina.[63] Both phases are

often considered together and referred to as the _Largo-Gallina_.

In the Gallina country there is the same combination of pit houses and

surface structures as in the Largo sites. Most sites are in good

defensive positions, but this is not true of all of them. Sites usually

consist of three or four house units grouped together, although single

houses also have been found. Most of these dwellings are towerlike

structures, square in outline but with rounded corners. They range from

eighteen to twenty feet in diameter and have walls still standing to a

height of from twelve to seventeen feet. These walls were

extraordinarily massive, being in some cases as much as six feet thick.

House interiors were characterized by flagstone floors and the wide use

of storage bins with sandstone covers. The bins were usually on the

south side. In most houses, there was an adobe bench encircling the

northern part of the room. Fine murals had been painted above the bench

in one house. On the whole, these structures resemble square kivas to

which bins have been added, although they were used as homes and not as

ceremonial chambers. Roofs consisted of a pole and adobe foundation with

flagstones providing a shingled effect. Entrance appears to have been

through the roof which, due to the great height of the buildings, must

have been reached by ladders or platforms. In addition to the towerlike

buildings there are also pit houses which are found in conjunction with

them.

Anasazi traits include twilled yucca sandals, coiled basketry,

feather-cloth, twined-bags, and black-on-white pottery. Axes,

shaft-smoothers, and pipes, resemble those found in Largo sites and the

cooking pots with the pointed bottoms are the same. Chisel-like objects

made of deer and elk antler and unusual stone knives were also found.

The latter were leaf-shaped blades with notches in the sides close to

the center. One end was pointed and the other somewhat blunted. It is

the latter end which seems to have been used while the pointed end was

hafted.

In general, the Largo-Gallina seems to be a Pueblo phase, probably

derived from the Rosa phase[41] of the Governador area, which was

subjected to foreign influences, probably from the north. Similarities

between Largo-Gallina and Navajo utility vessels may indicate some

relationship.

Athapaskan People

We may next consider the problem of the Navajos and Apaches who figured

so prominently in Southwestern history. They are relative newcomers in

the area and it is only within recent years that they have stirred the

interest of many archaeologists, although the Navajos have been

literally haunted by ethnologists for a long time.

Both Navajos and Apaches speak dialects of the Athapaskan language which

is spoken by many groups in northwestern Canada. At some time in the

relatively recent past, groups of Athapaskan-speaking people left their

northern homeland and drifted southward, some going along the coast and

others wandering farther east. Some reached the Southwest and the

descendants of these migrants are the Indians whom we know as Navajos

and Apaches.

There are many theories as to the route which they followed. Recent

finds, in the Colorado Rockies, of circular structures of dry-laid

masonry which are non-Pueblo in character and which resemble certain

Navajo houses or hogans, suggest that at least some of the migrants may

have followed the main mountain ranges.[68] It is also possible that

they may have moved south through the Great Basin west of the Rocky

Mountains, or along the High Plains east of the mountains. Pottery finds

give 1100 A. D. as the earliest date for the hoganlike structures in the

Colorado mountains. It is not certain that these houses were built by

Athapaskan people, however, and there is no definite knowledge as to

just when the Athapaskans reached the Southwest and first came into

contact with the Pueblo Indians. The earliest tree-ring date yet

obtained in the Pueblo area from any site which we may be sure is Navajo

is from the Governador area and falls in the middle of the sixteenth

century.[40] If the Navajos arrived as early as 1200 A.D. they may have

influenced the Largo-Gallina people and have been influenced by them,

but this is still a moot question. A relatively early arrival might also

aid in explaining the withdrawal of the Pueblos from the northern area.

SUMMARY

We may summarize the Great-Pueblo period as follows. It was the period

in which the Anasazi culture attained its highest development, and it

was marked by intense local specialization. Most of the basic aspects of

the culture had already been well established, but there was tremendous

improvement and amplification. Unit houses continued to be occupied

throughout the period but there was a general coalescence of the

population. The trend was toward concentration in great, terraced

communal houses, up to five stories in height, and large enough to

shelter hundreds of people. Some were built in the open and others in

large natural caverns in cliffs. Small kivas, presumably used by small

groups such as clans, were incorporated in the houses or placed in the

central court. There were also Great Kivas, larger and more elaborate

structures, believed to have served an entire community. There was local

variation in architectural details, both as regards masonry types and

house structures.

Pottery was remarkably fine and designs were often quite elaborate.

There was such specialization that the products of various centers are

readily distinguished. Culinary ware was corrugated. Among the decorated

types, black-on-white predominated but there was some black-on-red ware

and some black bowls with red interiors, and in the Kayenta district and

farther south polychrome pottery was widely made. Late in the period

black-on-orange wares became important in the Little Colorado drainage.

Much progress was made in the weaving of cotton cloth. Ornaments were

highly developed and turquoise was widely used. Remarkable mosaics as

well as beads and pendants were manufactured. Some coiled baskets were

still made but yucca ring baskets were the leading type.

Although it is only in the realm of material culture that we have

concrete evidence, there can be little doubt that the heights reached in

the production of material things must have been reflected in the whole

life of the people. There is every reason to believe that an essentially

democratic form of government prevailed, but communal living must have

required a high degree of organization. Doubtless religion played a

great part in the life of the community and had far-reaching influences.

In the latter part of the thirteenth century, the Southwest seems to

have had a dry period, marked by arroyo cutting that destroyed farmland,

which was followed by a disastrous drought. These factors, with possible

raids by nomadic warriors, internal discord, and probably others of

which we are ignorant, led to a general withdrawal of population from

many areas and a concentration in the central portion of the Plateau.

THE REGRESSIVE AND HISTORIC-PUEBLO PERIODS

The period which followed the Great-Pueblo era and which lasted until

historic times was called _Pueblo IV_ under the Pecos Classification. It

was defined as “the stage characterized by contraction of area occupied;

by the gradual disappearance of corrugated wares; and, in general, by

decline from the preceding cultural peak.”[74] At the present time it is

often referred to as the _Regressive-Pueblo_ period.[110] This term is

not really satisfactory. Admittedly, the latter part of the thirteenth

and the beginning of the fourteenth century was a period of great

instability, migrations occurred, and centers of population shifted.

Once the shift had been made, however, important new communities

developed in the drainages of the Little Colorado and the Rio Grande,

and a renaissance began. It seems entirely possible that the Pueblo

people might have achieved another remarkably high cultural stage had it

not been for the arrival of the Spaniards in 1540.

Even after Europeans arrived in the Southwest, the native culture was

far from being completely submerged, and, while aboriginal progress was

retarded, it was not entirely stopped. Since the first advent of white

men in the Southwest until the present day, the Pueblos have fought what

sometimes appears to be a losing battle against the encroachment of

European, and later, of American culture. Actually the battle has not

yet been entirely lost. We shall never know how the Pueblo people might

have developed, and what heights they might have reached had they been

left to their own devices. At least, though, they have not been entirely

assimilated by the civilization which has engulfed them, and they have

succeeded in retaining some of their old way of life.

It might seem that as soon as written records become available for a

period it should be classed as historic rather than prehistoric. The

Pueblo Indians, however, were sufficiently successful in withstanding

outside influences that the terminal date for the Regressive-Pueblo

period is usually given as 1700, and only the period from 1700 to the

present is called the _Historic-Pueblo_ period.

The trend during Regressive-Pueblo times was toward larger houses. In

the Hopi area the early houses were characterized by fine masonry and

covered about an acre of ground. Later they became much larger and, in

some cases, covered from ten to twelve acres of ground. These houses

were sometimes made up of long rows of buildings with plazas between

them. Kivas were rectangular, with a niche at one end of the room

containing a bench. The normal size was about ten or fourteen feet

square. On the floor, which was usually paved with stones, are found

loom blocks. These are sandstone blocks with depressions designed to

hold poles on which the warp threads are wound. The finding of these

loom blocks in prehistoric kivas is most interesting, for, among the

Hopi even today, the weaving is done by the men in the kivas. The use of

commercially woven fabrics for most clothing has naturally curtailed the

practice of this craft, but ceremonial clothing and fine white blankets

which serve as wedding robes are still woven in the kivas.

The early pottery was largely black-on-yellow, but some polychrome ware

was made, and there was also plain cooking pottery and some corrugated.

The latter became progressively less widely used, and later cooking ware

is almost entirely plain. In some later sites some of the

black-on-yellow ware is marked by a distinctive stippling technique as

black paint was splattered over the yellow background. During the period

from 1400 to 1625 some of the most beautiful pottery ever made in the

Southwest was being produced in the Hopi country. This is a polychrome

ware which bears exceptionally fine designs, which include geometric and

life forms and particularly graceful patterns, applied in red and black

paint on a yellow background. Over forty years ago, archaeologists were

excavating ancient villages in the Hopi country and finding examples of

this beautiful ware. A woman of the village of Walpi, named Nampeyo, was

the wife of one of the workmen employed by the expedition. She was

already a fine potter, and she recognized the great artistry represented

by these ancient vessels. She began to use similar designs and continued

to produce remarkably fine pottery for over thirty years, although, for

much of that time, her sight was failing and eventually she became

blind, and the final painting of the graceful vessels which she had

shaped had to be entrusted to others. The influence of this talented

woman can still be seen in the fine pottery made by Hopi women of the

First Mesa.

[Illustration: Fig. 36—Cavate dwellings and talus houses at

Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. (Courtesy National Park

Service.)]

In the Zuñi district houses and kivas were much like those of the Hopi

country. Pottery in this area was largely decorated with glaze paints.

These are vitreous mixtures obtained by the use of lead in the paint.

Glaze paints were difficult to apply and had a tendency to run or settle

in masses. As a result, designs were poor, but the use of glazes was

confined to decorations and entire vessels were not covered.

In the Rio Grande drainage, people with an earlier Pueblo culture were

just beginning to come together into large communities when this period

began. Doubtless, the advent of people from other parts of the Plateau

province did much to intensify this trend. As time went by, houses

became larger and fewer in number. Tuff blocks and adobe were widely

used in their construction and there was some use of _cavate_ dwellings.

These are rooms, excavated into the back walls of caves, which have

porchlike chambers in front.

Two famous Regressive-Pueblo sites in this region, which are known to

many tourists, are Puye,[62] on the Pajarito Plateau, and Tyuonyi in El

Rito de los Frijoles.[60] Beams from Puye have yielded tree-ring dates

ranging from 1507 to 1565. This settlement, perched on a huge mass of

yellowish gray tuff, consists of two aggregations of buildings. Forming

a quadrangle on top of the mesa, were four, terraced community houses

built around a court. There were also houses built in and against the

cliff walls, usually at the top of the talus slope. At Tyuoni, whose

dates range between about 1423 and 1513, there is a great communal house

which was, in part, two stories high and roughly circular in form. It

was made of tuff blocks. Three small kivas were built in the center

court or plaza. A few hundred yards to the east of the ruin lies a large

kiva. For a little over a mile along the canyon wall were cave rooms dug

into the cliff and rows of small houses built of tuff blocks. Some of

the cave rooms had porchlike structures erected in front of them, but

others did not.

The largest and strongest pueblo during this period was Pecos, which lay

at the headwaters of the Pecos River in northern New Mexico.[73] The

first buildings were erected shortly before 1300, and final abandonment

did not come until 1838. Such a long record is, of course, of tremendous

archaeological importance, and it is indeed fortunate that some of the

most extensive and painstaking excavations ever undertaken in the

Southwest were at this site. There was evidence of at least six distinct

towns. Great masses of pottery have been excavated, with careful

attention being paid to stratigraphy, and very detailed studies have

been made.[75][77] Well over a thousand skeletons have been obtained and

given careful study.

[Illustration: Fig. 37—Tyuonyi, Bandelier National Monument, New

Mexico. (Courtesy National Park Service.)]

Throughout the Rio Grande area, glazed wares were widely made. The

earlier forms had glazed designs applied on red vessels. Later, light

colored vessels were used. A series of six different types of glazed

wares, which were chronologically sequent, have been identified. By 1540

decorations were very carelessly applied and glazed wares were not of a

high quality. It was not, however, until the latter part of the

seventeenth century that they disappeared altogether and were replaced

by light colored vessels, with designs in dull red and black paint, much

like those made by the many present-day Indians.

[Illustration: Fig. 38—Glazed ware from the Rio Grande area.

Regressive-Pueblo period. (Courtesy School of American Research.)]

In the northern Rio Grande area black-on-white pottery died out to a

great extent and was largely replaced by what we know as Biscuit

Ware.[90] This name is derived from the resemblance of this pottery to

china in the “biscuit stage” of manufacture. Biscuit ware is a thick

pottery with a soft crumbly paste tempered with volcanic tuff. The

background is a light gray or tan, and somewhat coarse designs are

applied in black paint. Corrugated culinary ware was replaced by plain

black pottery.

In southeastern New Mexico, and extending into Texas, a distinctive ware

made during this period is found. This has a brown slip. Bowl exteriors

are undecorated, but the interiors have designs applied in red and

black. Associated with it, is a plain brick-red ware.

The story of the Spanish conquest of the Southwest, which was

interrupted by a revolt of the Pueblos in 1680, is as dramatic a tale as

history can produce. Although 1540 is the date usually given for the

first meeting between the Pueblo Indians and the Spaniards, it was

actually in 1539 that the first contact occurred. In that year a

Franciscan monk, Fray Marcos de Niza, accompanied by a Moor named

Esteban, started north from Mexico to investigate tales of large and

wealthy cities which were rumored to lie in that direction. Esteban went

on ahead, and, reaching what is now New Mexico, was slain by the

Indians. Fray Marcos did not dare to proceed, but caught a glimpse of

one of the pueblos of Zuñi from a distance, and returned with tales of

great cities.

[Illustration: Fig. 39—Biscuit ware from the Rio Grande area.

Regressive-Pueblo period. (Courtesy School of American Research.)]

In 1540 an expedition was organized under the leadership of Francisco

Vasquez de Coronado to search for the fabulous “Seven Cities of Cibola”

in the north. After a long and difficult journey the expedition reached

Hawikuh, one of the Zuñi villages. The disappointment of the adventurers

may well be imagined, for here was no city of gold, ready to yield its

wealth to the invaders, but a community of simple farmers who, not only

had no riches, but had little conception of the role that wealth could

play in society. Later, Coronado moved his forces to Tiguex on the Rio

Grande, another Pueblo town. Trouble soon developed, and the Indians

were massacred. The Spaniards then moved on to the Pueblo of Pecos, and

there followed an expedition into the Plains as the search continued for

the fabulous and mythical golden cities. In 1542, Coronado and his men

withdrew to New Spain, and the Pueblos were left in peace for forty

years. After 1580, various expeditions entered the Pueblo domain, and in

1598 it became a part of the Spanish dominions. In 1609 the city of

Santa Fe was founded.

From the beginning there was a clash between the two cultures. The

Pueblos resisted as best they could, but they were no match for the more

highly organized Spaniards with their superior weapons and their

inestimable advantage of being mounted. The colonizers and missionaries

who entered the country looked upon the Indians as a subject people;

there were abuses and many excesses, and the Indians were shamefully

exploited. Corn, the all-important staple of the Indians, was

requisitioned, and Spanish horses trampled Pueblo corn fields. Every

effort was made to break down the prevailing form of government.

Missionaries were determined to destroy the old religion and make

converts among the natives. The principle, that the end justifies the

means, was developed in its most pernicious form. There were floggings

and hangings, and Indians were sold into slavery. All in all, it is a

disgraceful page in history. Even the most cursory glance at our own

record of dealings with various Indian groups, however, suggests that we

are hardly in a position to “cast the first stone.” Under the

circumstances, even the smallest pebble would be excessive.

The presence of the Spaniards had other far-reaching and disastrous

effects on the Pueblos. They had no immunity to European diseases, and

many died. Worst of all, however, was the increasing pressure of fierce

nomadic tribes. Tribes, such as the Utes, the Comanches, the Navajos and

the Apaches, had been something of a menace before, but, as they

acquired horses, stolen from the Spaniards, their mobility was greatly

increased, and they became a scourge, sweeping over the Southwest,

killing, pillaging, and destroying.

In 1642, there was a mild revolt of the Pueblo Indians against the

Spaniards in which the Governor of the territory was killed, but they

were not well organized and the revolt was soon put down. It was not

until 1680 that a successful revolt took place. This dramatic episode in

Southwestern history has been called “the first American Revolution.”

The success of the undertaking was largely due to Popé, an old medicine

man of the Pueblo of San Juan. When the Spaniards first appeared there

were some seventy villages. By 1680 the number had been greatly reduced.

Added to the difficulties imposed by the lack of a common language, was

the separation of the Pueblos, not only as regards distance, but in

another and more important sense. As has already been pointed out, each

of the pueblos was essentially a separate city-state with its own

government, and, to some extent, its own culture. Popé, however,

succeeded in interesting the people of the scattered communities in the

common cause. First, the people of Taos were enlisted and then, one by

one the other pueblos were added to the list, until all were united,

including even the far off and peaceful Hopi.

At last, all was in readiness and a knotted cord was sent throughout the

Pueblo domain, each knot representing one day which was to elapse before

the warriors were to arise and cast out the invaders. Somehow the

Spaniards learned of the plot, and the revolt took place a little

earlier than had been planned. None the less, some four hundred people

were killed, and the survivors fled to the garrison at Santa Fe. Santa

Fe continued under siege until supplies and water were exhausted. When

the town could no longer be held, troops and civilians marched away,

without opposition from the Indians, and took refuge in the vicinity of

what is now the city of El Paso, Texas.

For twelve years the Spaniards were kept out of the Pueblo country,

although various attempts were made to retake the area. Even with the

removal of the hated Spaniards, these were not happy times for the

Pueblos. Mounted nomads as well as Spanish troops were a constant

threat, and many groups were forced to move to mesa tops where defense

was somewhat easier. As if all this were not enough, there came a severe

drought which, to such people, can mean only suffering and starvation.

At last in 1692, the land of the Pueblos again became a part of the

Spanish domain. This time the conquest was bloodless. Don Diego de

Vargas accomplished this remarkable feat largely by a display of force,

coupled with a policy of turning the suspicions of the Pueblos against

each other. United they had been able to drive out the invaders; divided

they were powerless to prevent their return. It is a story to ponder

carefully in these times.

[Illustration: Fig. 40—Hopi maiden. Similar hair dresses are shown

on figures in Developmental-Pueblo pictographs and on Mimbres

pottery. (Courtesy Museum of Northern Arizona.)]

Some Indians refused to accept Spanish domination and moved to the

almost inaccessible Governador country of northern New Mexico where they

lived among their traditional enemies, the Navajo, for some fifty years.

Many Pueblo traits which appear in Navajo culture may stem from this

contact. Other refugees joined the Hopis who were never reconquered. The

reconquest did not by any means mark the end of all trouble. There

continued to be periodic uprisings in the Rio Grande area, and the

Spaniards did not have an easy time. In addition to their troubles with

the Indians of the Pueblos, there was a constant threat from various

wild predatory tribes. There was also much internal dissension as a

result of a conflict between church and state. In 1821 the Pueblo

homeland became part of the Republic of Mexico, and then, in 1848, New

Mexico became a territory of the United States.

Throughout the period from 1540 until the present day, the Pueblos have

been subjected to the influences of alien cultures. Some traits of these

cultures they have accepted, others they have rejected. They have

learned to keep livestock, they cultivate many fruits and vegetables

unknown to their ancestors, they use metal tools and machinery.

Machine-made fabrics are widely used, and there is an ever increasing

trend toward wearing the white man’s apparel. Pottery is still made, and

interesting new wares have been developed, but it is made to be sold

and, in Indian homes, most of the beautiful old vessels have been

replaced by metal and china containers.

Nominally the people of the Pueblos are Christians, and there is no

village without a chapel in which the people worship. There are kivas

too, however, and sometimes openly, sometimes secretly, the old rites

are practiced and the old gods are worshiped. Houses may have windows

and galvanized roofs, but basically the architecture is the same. There

is some dissension in various villages, but in many there is still a

remarkable group unity. On the surface, there is an ever growing

tendency for the Pueblo Indians to become more like the white neighbors

who surround them, but it would be naive to believe that the old culture

has disappeared completely. Perhaps some day it will, but the end is not

yet. Those who know and understand the way of the “ancient ones” admit

the inevitability of change, but they feel that there is much to be

learned from the old way of life.