World, have never been found in America. Man went through his
developmental stages in the Old World and came to America at a late
date, a fully developed human being. Pithecanthropus erectus,
Sinanthropus, Homo neanderthalensis--America has never known those
tongue-twisting lowbrows!
After the first discovery of the new land there were innumerable
rediscoveries. One group of men after another came to America and those
migrations continued for thousands of years. The latest migrants came to
America very recently. Thus, America was populated by many successive
waves of migration over a long period of time.
It seems, almost, that after the first group came, word may have spread
from one small tribe to another that off to the east lay a better land.
People were disappearing over the eastern horizon. What lay in that
direction? Curiosity urged them on!
It is altogether possible that actual word of the new land in the east
went back to the Asiatic continent. Perhaps there were small counter
migrations or perhaps some small traveling group, feeling a bond with
some other group in the old country, sent runners back to beckon them
on.
Certain it is that there was not just a single migration. Numerous
groups of men filtered into America over a period of thousands of years.
Slowly, aimlessly, they wandered. One group pushed another and was in
turn pushed by an oncoming tribe. After a time, North and South America
were covered with hundreds of small tribes of Indians.
The members of these various tribes were not all alike. They differed
greatly in appearance, in language, in religion and in mode of living.
The answer is apparent. The various groups came from different parts of
Asia. They came at different times. They settled in different parts of
the New World and developed in different ways according to the natural
resources in each region. As a result there came into being the many
tribes of American Indians which were in America when Columbus came on
his journey of rediscovery from the east.
The early part of the story of the Americas is still hazy. In spite of
many years of search by dozens of top-flight archeologists there are
many unanswered questions. Each year expeditions sift through the dust
of the ages on the trail of those early Americans. More often than not
the trail leads to a blank wall. The ancient past of the Indian is
clouded with uncertainty but the lure of the unknown still beckons to
those who are endeavoring to trail him back to his Asiatic birthplace.
The great trouble is that for thousands of years the Indians lived a
hunting life. They wandered from day to day, living on the natural foods
they found in each day's journey. There was no permanent home, no
settled life. The hunter was ever on the trail of his next meal.
Consider the life of the primitive hunter. Each morning he is awakened
by the pangs of hunger in his empty, flapping paunch and he views with
dismay his breakfast which is disappearing over the horizon on four
strong, swift legs. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he starts out in
pursuit of his breakfast. Failing to catch up with it, he starts after
his lunch. If it eludes him, he begins to work on the next meal--and the
next and the next. Always he is one jump behind his food supply. When he
makes a kill he gorges and smoothes the wrinkles out of his belly. When
he fails, he goes hungry.
Being forced to follow the game he is ever on the move. He can have no
permanent home, no pottery, nothing that cannot easily be transported on
the trail. One night he sleeps under a tree and leaves behind a broken
stone knife. The next night he sleeps in a cave ten miles away and
discards a worn-out sandal. The third night he builds his campfire
beside a lake across the mountain. On and on through the days he moves
and finally, when the end comes, the animals of the wild clean and
scatter his bones and they return to the dust from whence they came.
The archeologist may find the stone knife and the discarded sandal. He
may even find the long-cold ashes of the campfire. But there is nothing
to indicate that all three belonged to the same man. There is not a
single bit of evidence that ties them together.
Thus it is with the hunter. His trail is cold: the clews are few. He is
the will-o-the-wisp of the human race. He has put many gray hairs in the
head of the archeologist.
All of the early inhabitants of North and South America lived a
wandering, hunting life. For thousands of years they lived on the chance
products, animal and plant, that nature offered. They seldom stayed long
in one place: they never built a permanent thing. To date the story of
the first ten or fifteen thousand years is far from complete. It can be
summed up in a few words.
The men themselves have, for the most part, eluded us. The fact that
they lived a wandering life and seldom, if ever, buried the dead, has
made it difficult to find the bones of the men themselves. However, the
tools and weapons made and used by those men have been found in great
numbers. And best of all, they have been found in situations which
clearly indicate the antiquity of man in America.
A few thousand years ago there were elephants in America. The mammoth
was here as well as his terrifying near-relative, the mastodon. There
were horses in various parts of the country and a strange, lumbering
animal, the ground sloth, was common. Tremendous bison with long
sweeping horns wallowed in the bogs and camels roamed the plains.
Modern man has never seen those animals in America. They were gone long
before he came. They had been extinct thousands of years before the
first Europeans poked their tardy noses into the New World.
In spite of this we know that the early Indians did see them. They
hunted them and lived on their flesh. They may have been a contributing
factor in the extinction of some of those ancient species. Changing
weather conditions thinned out the great herds and man, not yet
conservation conscious, may have helped to wipe out the survivors.
How do we know?
In a number of places the implements of those early men have been found
in direct association with the bones of the extinct animals. The
inference is unquestionable. Dart points, knives, scrapers and other
implements have been found so definitely associated with the bones of
animals that there can be no doubt that man and the animals existed at
the same time. If those animals have been extinct for thousands of years
it dates the earliest men fairly well.
One of the most important finds was made in northeastern New Mexico,
near the little town of Folsom. This find was important because it was
here for the first time that modern scientists were forced to admit that
man had been in America a long, long time. It is also important because
it has given a name to some of the ancient men. Folsom Man, the most
elusive American we have yet been unable to find.
The discovery of the earliest evidences of Folsom Man is one of the
strangest stories in American archeology. The events in the story
covered a period of twenty-five years and it was only by chance that the
important archeological evidence came to the attention of the scientific
world.
Back about 1900, a negro cowboy known as Nigger George, was riding the
range on the Crowfoot Ranch near the little town of Folsom, New Mexico,
searching for cattle. As George rode along, he came to a deep arroyo so
he turned his horse and rode along its bank. Suddenly, in the opposite
wall of the arroyo, the cowboy noticed some huge bones. They were larger
than any bones he had ever seen and the fact that they were washing out
of the arroyo wall several feet below the surface was puzzling.
Fortunately George, although an illiterate man, was curious about the
bones and, instead of riding on and forgetting them, collected a number
and took them to the ranch house.
The bones were obviously larger than those of modern bison or cattle but
no one at the ranch was particularly interested in them. Many years
passed and finally someone became mildly interested in the bones and
gave them to Mr. Ed Price, of Raton, New Mexico. Again the years passed
and it was not until 1925 that the bones once more attracted attention.
In that year a number were sent to the Colorado Museum of Natural
History and the paleontologists recognized them for what they were--the
bones of an extinct bison. Thousands of years ago the bison had roamed
the plains of North America. They were tremendous, long-horned animals,
larger than our present-day bison.
[Illustration: Park visitors entering Balcony House on ranger-guided
tour]
In order to obtain some of the ancient skeletons the museum sent
expeditions to Folsom, New Mexico, and during three summers the men dug
the great bones out of the arroyo bank. When the digging was finished,
the men had recovered thirty skeletons of the long-extinct bison. But in
addition, they had found something far more important. Among the bison
bones they had discovered nineteen beautiful dart, or spear points. The
points were so closely associated with the bones that there could be no
doubt as to their antiquity. And, with equal certainty, there could be
no doubt that ancient hunters had killed the great bison.
All evidence indicated that a few thousand years ago this was a swampy,
boggy place, a bison wallow. Primitive hunters crept up on the drowsing
animals and sometimes made a kill. They skinned the bison, cut off what
meat they wanted and left the carcasses to rot in the mud. Sometimes
they failed to extract all of their dart points from the bodies of the
bison. As the centuries passed the bones became deeply covered with
earth and there they remained until that fateful day when Nigger George
rode by.
Geologists who studied the Folsom Site felt that the bison bones had
been there in the earth at least twelve or fifteen thousand years. The
importance of the nineteen dart points was immediately evident. Since
they had caused the death of the bison there could be no doubt that men
were in the area twelve or fifteen thousand years ago. Before the Folsom
discovery archeologists had felt that men had been in America only a
short time. Now they were forced to revise their thinking concerning the
antiquity of the American Indian.
When the Folsom discovery was announced many archeologists began
searching for evidences of Folsom Man and a burning question was always
in their minds. Who would have the honor of finding Folsom Man himself?
After twenty-five years of searching, the question is still unanswered.
Folsom Man still evades his trackers for no skeletons have been found
which can be considered, without doubt, to have belonged to him.
Evidences are plentiful for in many parts of the United States the
points have been found. But Folsom Man himself still eludes us. The name
means little. It is a term that is rather loosely applied to the makers
of the beautiful Folsom Points. They are entirely distinctive and are
among the highest examples of the flint workers art that have been found
in America. Beautifully shaped, delicately chipped points with grooved
faces, they can not be confused with any other dart or spear points.
They have been found in many places, often associated with the bones of
extinct animals.
Up in northern Colorado, near the town of Fort Collins, is the
Lindenmeier Site. In it were found the bones of the same bison as those
of Folsom. With them were the same Folsom Points. With them, also, were
stone knives, scrapers, chopping and rubbing stones, as well as the
ashes and charcoal from ancient campfires. They were spread over a large
area. It was a campsite where Folsom Man actually had lived. Was Folsom
Man in camp? No, he had stepped out!
In Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and other states, similar finds
have been made. Folsom Points, and other points equally ancient, have
been found in association with the bones of many extinct animals such as
the bison, horse, mammoth and camel. Everywhere are found the evidences;
nowhere is found Folsom Man himself.
Bones of the extinct animals, being solid and massive, have lasted well.
Tools made of stone last indefinitely. Human bones, being thin and
delicate, disintegrate more rapidly. There were probably few burials in
those days and the human bones were scattered to the four winds. Still
the search goes on. Sooner or later the find will be made. In the back
of a dry cave somewhere in the Southwest, probably, will be found some
human bones. With them will be some Folsom Points. Then we will know
that the points and the bones belonged to the same man--Folsom Man.
Or perhaps, when the human bones are found, a Folsom Point will actually
be sticking in one of them. Then we will be sure that we have Folsom Man
or, at least, someone whom Folsom Man did not like.
Although the actual physical remains of Folsom Man have not been found,
a human skeleton, seemingly equally ancient, has recently been
discovered. In 1947, scientists began excavating in a dry lake bed near
Mexico City because of reports that natives had been finding mammoth
bones in the area. Near the point where the mammoth bones had been found
was discovered the partial skeleton of a man. The men who made the
discovery were very sure the skeleton was as old as the layer of earth
in which it was found, and this age was estimated to be 15,000 years.
Some scientists have been skeptical about the age of this skeleton,
known as Tepexpan Man, feeling that it may represent a more recent
burial. Recently, however, another discovery has been made which adds
strength to the belief that Tepexpan Man is ancient. Early in 1952, the
skeleton of a mammoth was found only a mile from the place where the
human skeleton had been discovered. With the mammoth bones were found
six man-made stone implements. One of these, a spear or dart point, was
between two ribs of the mammoth--in all probability the animal had been
killed by man. Even more important, however, was the fact that the human
skeleton and the mammoth skeleton were found in the same layer of earth.
The importance of these two discoveries is obvious. The mammoth skeleton
and the accompanying man-made implements indicate that man and mammoth
lived in the area at the same time. The fact that the human and mammoth
skeletons were found in the same layer of earth indicates that they may
be equally ancient, and geologists feel that layer of earth was
deposited about 15,000 years ago.
Thus, Tepexpan Man, unless grave errors were made during excavation, may
well be the oldest human skeleton yet found in America. And the
important point is that there was nothing primitive about this ancient
man. He was a fully developed human being--Homo sapiens. In appearance
he was much like men of today and his brain was almost as large as that
of the average modern man.
The search for America's earliest inhabitants continues year after year.
During the past twenty-five years many finds have been made but little
has been learned about the people themselves. In each case, when an
important find is made, it consists of spear points, dart points or
other stone implements associated with the bones of extinct animals.
The Folsom Points, because of the importance of the original discovery,
have received the greatest amount of publicity, but dart or spear points
of many types have been found. Usually these projectile points are named
because of the place where they are discovered and as a result there are
Scottsbluff Points, Eden Points, Plainview Points, Sandia Points, and
many more. The great need, at the present time, is for skeletal remains
of the early men themselves. Some ancient human remains have been found
but scientists are not in complete agreement as to their age. Even the
Tepexpan skeleton, which may be the most important of all, has not been
accepted by all of the men who are working on the problem of early man
in America.
The story is being carried farther and farther into the past by stronger
and stronger evidences. No one knows where it will end. Certain it is
that America was discovered a great many thousands of years ago.
Columbus was a late comer and he came the hard way. The real discoverers
of America came the easy way: they just walked over.
All of the early inhabitants of America lived by hunting and fishing and
by gathering the fruits, nuts, roots, berries and seeds which nature
offered. Since they lived a roaming, drifting life, they built no
permanent structures and as a result, their remains are not easily
found. Because of this there are many question marks in the early part
of the story and much is yet to be learned about the earliest
inhabitants of the Americas.
As long as the early Indians lived a wandering, hunting life there was
no real progress and we must come down to comparatively recent times in
order to appreciate the greatest accomplishments of the American Indian.
A short time ago, only a few thousand years at most, a very important
thing happened. Somewhere in Mexico or Central America, perhaps in South
America, the first farmers appeared. Some ancient Burbank produced corn,
the plant which was responsible for all of the highest Indian cultures
which the white man found when he blundered into America.
The origin of corn is still a mystery. For many years botanists have
tried to trace it back to its wild plant ancestors but the entire story
is still not known. Corn has moved so far and has changed so radically
that there are gaps in the story and we may never know exactly how the
Indians developed it. Certainly it was the most important food plant the
Indians ever knew and because of it the lives of many Indians underwent
a radical change.
Corn spread from one tribe to the next. One group after another found
that farming was more dependable than hunting. Farther and farther it
spread until large portions of North and South America were covered with
farming Indians. With corn went other food plants which the Indians
developed; beans, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, and many more. Farming was
in America to stay.
The result was amazing. Many Indians who formerly had followed the
forest trails year after year now began to live settled lives. With
dependable supplies of food coming from each harvest it was no longer
necessary to move about. Permanent habitations soon appeared and
villages and towns developed. The population increased and people began
to concentrate in the best farming areas. With all this came new
inventions which led the people always to higher stages of development.
When the white man finally arrived in 1492, there were fifteen or twenty
million Indians in North and South America. Some still lived by hunting,
some by fishing, others by gathering the seeds, roots and other plant
products offered by nature. But millions of the Indians were highly
developed agricultural people. The Pueblo Indians of the Southwest, the
Indians of the New England states whom our first colonists met, the
Mayas and Aztecs of Mexico, the Incas of South America, and many others
had made surprising progress in a comparatively short time.
Credit for this progress goes to the amazing plant, corn, the American
Indian's greatest single contribution to modern man.
10
ARCHEOLOGY OF THE MESA VERDE
A little while ago we spent a year with the people of Cliff Palace and
we saw them at the peak of their development as far as the Mesa Verde
was concerned. They were successful farmers, their arts and crafts were
highly developed and their religious and social customs were rigid and
complex. Obviously the people could not have achieved such a high
cultural level in a short time: surely there must have been a long
period of development in order for them to reach the stage we saw at
Cliff Palace.
Actually this development extended over many centuries and we shall now
take a little time to consider the events of that long period. This is
the dry part of the story. When we saw the people in Cliff Palace they
were warm, living beings, experiencing all the emotions any people may
have. But now there will be no flesh on the bones and we shall deal only
with the dead, rather dry facts archeologists dig out of the earth. So
we shall not tarry too long.
About 2000 years ago farming Indians moved into the Mesa Verde region.
The exact date is still unknown but it appears they were well
established in some parts of the area by the beginning of the Christian
Era. Even at that early date they were farmers and their progress is
easy to follow. In the preceding chapter, covering the early history of
the American Indian, we were dealing with elusive hunters. We saw not a
single Indian; only dim, mysterious shapes sifting through a forest of
question marks. But now we are dealing with farmers and we shall have
solid substance on which to build our story.
The trail of farmers is easier to follow. They have a dependable food
supply and live in one spot for generations. They build villages and
cities, and best of all, excellent garbage piles. Nothing delights the
archeologist as much as a big pile of trash for every piece is a
paragraph in the story of a people. If he can find the things people
have used, worn out and discarded the archeologist can reconstruct their
lives to an amazing degree. Hunters seldom pile up their trash but
farmers are more obliging. Living for generations in a village they
carry it outside and dump it in one nice big pile. And in those
successive layers of trash is the story of the people. The archeologist
revels in it. Except for the professional garbage collector he is
probably the only person in the world who is thankful for trash.
Excavation of ruins and trash piles has revealed that the Mesa Verde
region was occupied by farming Indians from about the beginning of the
Christian Era, possibly somewhat earlier, until almost 1300 A.D. For
convenience this long occupation has been divided into four
archeological periods. Actually there were no abrupt breaks between
these periods. Once the farming Indians settled in the area they
developed steadily and there was constant progress until the climax was
reached.
Dividing the occupation into periods makes it much easier, however, to
follow the progress of the people. Various archeologists have used
different names for the periods but we shall use a system that was
developed by Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts, of the Smithsonian Institution.
Dates for the various periods vary somewhat in different parts of the
Pueblo area but those used here serve well for the Mesa Verde itself.
Basket Maker Period. 1 to 450 A.D.
Modified Basket Maker Period. 450 to 750 A.D.
Developmental Pueblo Period. 750 to 1100 A.D.
Great Pueblo Period. 1100 to 1300 A.D.
The fact that the first two periods are called "Basket Maker" and the
last two "Pueblo" should not be considered as an indication that there
was a difference in the people themselves. Many years ago it was felt
that during the eighth century there was a change in the physical type
but this idea has been discarded. The people as well as their culture
seem to have progressed in an unbroken line. It should be noted, also,
that the dates are not rigid and they do not indicate abrupt, easily
discerned cultural changes.
BASKET MAKER PERIOD. 1 to 450 A.D.
The Basket Makers were the earliest farmers in the Mesa Verde area.
Their culture was comparatively simple and was featured by excellent
weaving, especially of baskets and bags. Because of this trait they were
called Basket Makers by the early explorers and the name has stuck.
Credit for recognizing and naming these early people goes to Richard
Wetherill, whom we have already met. In 1893, the Wetherills were
digging in a great cave in Butler Wash, in southeastern Utah. While
digging in the natural sand floor of the cave Richard found a burial
pit, then another and another. When the excavation of the cave was
completed the Wetherills had found ninety burials and in many cases the
bodies were well mummified because of the drying effect of the cave
sand.