The so-called "Mesa Verde cliff dwellers" were not the first of the
prehistoric southwestern cultures, nor were they the first human
occupants of the natural caves that abound in the area of the park.
Centuries before the cliff-dweller culture with its complex social
organizations, agriculture, and highly developed arts of masonry,
textiles, and ceramics, it is thought that small groups of primitive
Mongoloid hunters crossed from the north-eastern peninsula of Asia to
the western coast of Alaska. The Bering Strait, with but 60 miles of
water travel, offered the safest and easiest route.
Just when these migrations to the east had their origin and how long
they continued cannot definitely be said, but it is thought the
earliest Mongoloid hunters were in northwestern America about twelve
to fifteen thousand years ago. When Columbus "discovered" America the
continent was inhabited from Alaska to the Strait of Magellan and from
the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts.
For perhaps several thousand years following the first migrations
little of great significance developed. There undoubtedly was
cultural progress, but it was slow, and in the long perspective of
time its evidences are hardly discernible. With the knowledge and
benefits of agriculture, which was probably developed first in Mexico,
hunting gave way to husbandry, nomadism to sedentary life, and there
followed a great period of change and advancement. The introduction of
corn or Indian maize into what is now the southwestern United States
may be called the antecedent condition for all advanced cultures of
the area.
Evidence has not yet been established that the first of the
maize-growing Indians of the Southwest were permanent occupants of the
Mesa Verde. Nevertheless, in the Cliff Palace cave, well below the
horizon or floor level of the cliff dwellers, archeologists have found
a yucca fiber sandal of a distinctive type which is associated only
with the first agricultural civilization. From this evidence it would
be reasonable to assume that the caves of Mesa Verde at least offered
temporary shelter, if not permanent homes, to the people of this
period.
The earliest culture so far definitely identified as having permanent
habitation on the Mesa Verde is the Basket Maker III or the Second
Agricultural Basket Maker first found in Step House cave on the west
side of the park below the debris of the latter cliff-house
occupation. Recent excavations and archeological surveys furnish
conclusive evidence that the second agricultural people were most
numerous in the area now included in this national park, and they
constructed their roughly circular subterranean rooms not only in the
sandy floor of the caves but also in the red soil on the comparatively
level mesas separating the numerous canyons. Late Basket Maker House
A, formerly known as Earth Lodge A, is an example of this early type
of structure. Up to this time excavations have failed to uncover a
single house structure of this type not destroyed by fire.
These early inhabitants made basketry, excelled in the art of weaving,
and it is believed were the first of the southwestern cultures to
invent fired pottery. The course of this invention can be traced from
the crude sun-dried vessel tempered with shredded cedar bark to the
properly tempered and durable fired vessel.
Then followed a long development in house structure, differing
materially from this earlier type. Horizontal masonry replaced the
cruder attempts of house-wall construction; rectangular or squarish
forms replaced the somewhat circular earlier type; and gradually the
single-room structures were grouped into ever-enlarging units which
assumed varying forms of arrangement as the development progressed.
The art of pottery making improved concurrently with the more complex
house structure. This later period represents the intermediate era of
development from the crude Late Basket Maker dwellings to the
remarkable structures of the "Cliff House Culture."
During this period of transition new people penetrated the area. The
Basket Makers throughout the course of their development were
consistently a long-headed group. The appearance of an alien group is
recorded through the finding of skeletons with broad or round skulls
and a deformed occiput. These new people, the Pueblos, took over,
changed, and adapted to their own needs the material culture of the
earlier inhabitants.
The Pueblos were not content with the crude buildings and earth lodges
that sufficed as homes during the earlier periods. For their
habitations they shaped stones into regular forms, sometimes
ornamenting them with designs, and laid them in mud mortar, one on
another. Their masonry has resisted the destructive forces of the
elements for centuries.
The arrangement of houses in a cliff dwelling the size of Cliff Palace
is characteristic and is intimately associated with the distribution
of the social divisions of its former inhabitants.
The population was composed of a number of units, possibly clans, each
of which had its more or less distinct social organization, as
indicated in the arrangement of the rooms. The rooms occupied by a
clan were not necessarily connected, and generally neighboring rooms
were distinguished from one another by their uses. Thus, each clan had
its men's room, which is called the "kiva." Each clan had also a
number of rooms, which may be styled the living rooms, and other
enclosures for granaries. The corn was ground into meal in another
room containing the metate set in a stone bin or trough. Sometimes the
rooms had fireplaces, although these were generally in the plazas or
on the housetops. All these different rooms, taken together,
constituted the houses that belonged to one clan.
The conviction that each kiva denotes a distinct social unit, as a
clan or a family, is supported by a general similarity in the masonry
of the kiva walls and that of adjacent houses ascribed to the same
clan. From the number of these rooms it would appear that there were
at least 23 social units or clans in Cliff Palace.
Apparently there is no uniformity or prearranged plan in the
distribution of the kivas. As religious belief and custom prescribed
that these rooms should be subterranean, the greatest number were
placed in front of the rectangular buildings where it was easiest to
construct them. When necessary, because of limited space or other
conditions, kivas were also built far back in the cave and enclosed by
a double wall of masonry, with the walls being spaced about two and a
half to three feet apart. The section between the walls was then
backfilled with earth or rubble to the level of the kiva roof. In
that way the ceremonial structure was artificially made subterranean,
as their beliefs required.
In addition to their ability as architects and masons, the cliff
dwellers excelled in the art of pottery making and as agriculturists.
Their decorated pottery--a black design on pearly white
background--will compare favorably with pottery of the other cultures
of the prehistoric Southwest.
As their sense of beauty was keen, their art, though primitive, was
true; rarely realistic, generally symbolic. Their decoration of cotton
fabrics and ceramic work might be called beautiful, even when judged
by our own standards. They fashioned axes, spear points, and rude
tools of stone; they wove sandals, and made attractive basketry.
The staple product of the cliff dwellers was corn; they also planted
beans and squash. This limited selection was perhaps augmented by
pinon nuts, yucca fruit, and other indigenous products found in
abundance. Nevertheless, successful agriculture on the semiarid
plateau of the Mesa Verde must have been dependent upon hard work and
diligent efforts. Without running streams irrigation was impossible
and success depended upon the ability of the farmer to save the crop
through the dry period of June and early July.
Rain at the right time was the all-important problem, and so
confidently did they believe that they were dependent upon the gods to
make the rain fall and the corn grow that their prayers for rain
probably developed into their most important ceremonies.
From Dr. A. E. Douglass's tree-ring chronology the earliest date so
far established for the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings is 1066 A.D. and
the latest date 1274 A.D. While it should not be imagined that these
are the all-inclusive dates representing the total time of the
cliff-dweller culture, it is interesting to note that this same
tree-ring story tells us that a great drought commenced in 1276 and
extended for a 24-year period to 1299. It may logically be presumed
that the prehistoric population was gradually forced to withdraw from
the area as the drought continued and to establish itself near more
favorable sources of water supply.
The so-called "Aztec ruin", which is situated on the banks of the
Animas River in northwestern New Mexico, substantiates this hypothesis
of the voluntary desertion of the cliff dwellings. In this ruin is
found unmistakable evidence of a secondary occupation which has been
definitely identified as a Mesa Verde settlement.
It is thought that certain of the present-day Pueblo Indians are
descendants, in part at least, of the cliff dwellers. Many of these
Indian towns or pueblos still survive in the States of New Mexico and
Arizona, the least modified of which are the villages of the Hopi,
situated not far from the Grand Canyon National Park.