in excellence. This is to be expected, however, for pottery had taken
its place to a great extent and it was not as important as in Basket
Maker times. Good baskets were still woven in Great Pueblo times but
they were fewer and the lack of elaborate decorations probably indicates
that their popularity was waning. Sandals were still widely used but
they too declined in quality. Possibly the loss of quality in basketry
affected this closely allied craft.
Cotton cloth, often decorated in several colors, was produced in
abundance and exquisite jewelry was made from turquoise, shell, bone and
other materials. Even the minor tools give evidence of patient industry
and nimble fingers.
The Great Pueblo period was a remarkable climax to the many centuries of
cultural development which we have just witnessed. As we study it,
however, one significant fact is obvious. It was a period of
regimentation with the people moving in certain well established
grooves. Artists and craftsmen were highly skilled but they all followed
the same patterns. There was little tendency on the part of the
individual to strike out by himself and develop new things. Individual
initiative was not strong and the religious and social life probably was
rigidly regulated.
As archeologists endeavor to reconstruct the events of the Great Pueblo
period they are confronted with some puzzling problems concerning the
general way of life of the people. During the period the architectural
layout of the villages changed, the villages increased in size and their
location changed. In addition, the population began to decline and great
areas which had long been occupied were deserted. At first glance it
would seem that adverse conditions were affecting the people but more
work must be done before all of the problems can be solved.
At the beginning of the period the population was widely scattered and
most of the villages were small unit pueblos which have already been
mentioned. The fact that the people lived in small scattered villages
would in itself indicate that no danger threatened. Even more indicative
of peaceful times is the fact that the kiva was located outside the
village walls. The kiva, an underground room, was used primarily by the
men. The only exit was a small hatchway in the roof and through this
only one man could emerge at a time. If a raiding party had surprised a
small village while the men were in the kiva during a ceremony or at
night the results would have been tragic.
Early in the Great Pueblo period the people began to change the location
of the kiva. Soon, in most cases at least, the kiva was placed inside
the village and was surrounded by the houses. No longer was the
underground room a death trap in case of a surprise raid.
At about the same time tall round towers came into use. Sometimes they
were built at the outer walls of the pueblo but very often the tower was
built beside the kiva and was connected with it by an underground
tunnel. The round tower, which stood higher than the rest of the
village, would have served admirably as a lookout tower and connecting
it with the men's room would seem a natural development. It has been
suggested that the tower may have had some ceremonial use since it was
connected with the kiva. More practical, however, is the idea that it
was a watch tower which resulted from a defensive need. Or, if one
wishes to avoid taking sides, perhaps it served both purposes.
Whatever was affecting the people now seems to have caused life in small
villages to be less desirable for as we move farther into the Great
Pueblo period we see the pueblos increase in size. It is true that some
small pueblos were still in use but one of the outstanding
characteristics of the period was the concentration of the population in
pueblos of great size.
An excellent example of this concentration is to be seen in the great
Montezuma Valley which lies to the north and west of the Mesa Verde. At
an earlier date the Pueblo Indians who occupied this valley lived in
many small villages. During the Great Pueblo period the people seem to
have banded together to form large communities. A number of enormous
pueblos were constructed and in many cases they were built around the
springs which supplied water for the populace.
In the Mesa Verde the trend was the same. At the beginning of the period
the people lived in numerous small pueblos. After a time they began to
band together and toward the end of the twelfth century large pueblos
were being built on the mesa tops and in the broad, shallow drainages at
the heads of canyons. In some cases several small pueblos were built
close together while in other cases several small pueblos were clustered
around one or more large ones.
The next change was the most radical of all. About 1200 A.D., the people
began to desert the mesa tops and within a short time cliff dwellings
were built in almost every cave in the Mesa Verde. Shallow caves were
available in great numbers for the mesa contains a score of large
canyons. The exact number of cliff dwellings is not known but probably
there are as many as six or eight hundred in the canyons of the Mesa
Verde.
The events of the Great Pueblo period seem to indicate that the people
were faced with some danger which was not present during the earlier
periods. The change from small to large pueblos indicates a need for
security and the final move to the caves must indicate a definite need
for defense. Hundreds of the caves were high on the cliff faces and many
of them were additionally fortified with defensive walls.
There can be little doubt that during this period the security of the
people was threatened. Now we come to the most difficult question of
all. Who was the enemy? Against whom were the people defending their
homes? The complete answer is not known but there appear to be two
possibilities.
It has been suggested that during this period dissension arose within
the Pueblo group itself and the people began to war against each other.
This theory will be difficult to prove and events of the period seem to
argue against it. If the need for defense resulted from trouble within
the tribe one might well expect the people to scatter even more widely
with groups leaving the heavily populated areas to seek safety in
isolation. But the people did just the opposite. Large areas were
deserted and the population became more concentrated than in any
previous period.
[Illustration: Four small cliff dwellings with excellent defensive
locations]
This drawing together of the Pueblo people may well indicate that the
threat was from the outside and it is possible that at this time nomadic
Indians entered the area and began to harass the farmers. Ceaseless
raids of nomadic marauders would exert tremendous pressure on a farming
population and withdrawal from the border lands and concentration in
certain favorable areas probably indicates a need for defense against an
outside enemy.
In 1540, when the Spaniards entered the Southwest, several tribes of
nomadic Indians were warring on the Pueblo people and the population had
dropped radically. When the Pueblo population was at its height there
were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of villages but when the Spaniards
came they found less than eighty villages of Pueblo Indians and these
were concentrated in a small area in what is now New Mexico and Arizona.
Even after the Americans came the population continued to dwindle.
Finally there were fewer than thirty villages of Pueblo Indians. Much of
this loss of population was due to the harassing activities of nomadic
Indians and it is possible that in the Mesa Verde area this trouble
began about 1100 A.D.
The identity of the nomadic tribes which warred on the people of the
Mesa Verde region is not known. It has been suggested that the early
Apaches or the early Utes may have entered the area at that time but
there is little positive evidence. Further research may provide an
answer to the problem but it is possible the identity of the "enemy
people" will never be known.
The Great Pueblo period came to an end just before 1300 A.D., and that
is the time when the Pueblo Indians moved away from the Mesa Verde,
never to return. As was mentioned in an earlier chapter the Pueblo
Indian occupation of the Mesa Verde came to an end during the great
drought of 1276-1299 A.D. Rainfall was deficient during this period of
twenty-four years and before normal weather returned in the year 1300,
all of the people had drifted off to the south. Nothing has been found
to indicate that the Mesa Verde region was ever occupied by farming
Indians after the drouth.
Since the area was deserted during the drouth it is only reasonable to
assume that this period of abnormally dry weather was the cause of their
leaving. There is much, however, to indicate that the drouth was not the
sole cause. During their long occupation of the Mesa Verde the Indians
had survived many long periods of drouth. Dry years were not a new
experience and they were wise in the ways of existing through
unfavorable periods. It is doubtful whether the drouth, severe as it
was, would have caused complete abandonment of so large an area. We may
feel sure that during the Great Pueblo period a very real danger
threatened the people. They moved to the caves, certainly because of a
need for security, and the population diminished. Before the drouth came
the people were already moving to the south and it is probable that the
abnormally dry period simply hastened a movement that was already
underway. While the final, complete desertion of the area may be blamed
on the drouth it appears that the danger which had threatened for more
than a century had much to do with the abandonment of the once populous
area.
When normal weather returned in the year 1300, there were no Pueblo
Indians in the Mesa Verde. All had perished or had drifted away and the
villages were empty and silent. Slowly the centuries paraded by.
Drifting earth and vegetation crept over the mesa-top pueblos and the
leveling forces of nature caused the once proud cliff dwellings slowly
to bow their heads.
Then suddenly the silence of six centuries was broken and the emptiness
was gone. Men of a new race came upon the scene and the modern world
learned of the glorious past of the Mesa Verde.
Transcriber's Notes
--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.
--Corrected a few palpable typographical errors.
--Transcribed some text from illustrations, for the sake of the text
versions.
--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.