[Illustration: Human head]
The true occupants of Carlsbad Caverns National Park were a group of
Indians known as “Basketmakers.” They may have been descendants of the
early people, or perhaps a new and distinct group. This name was applied
because these people made excellent baskets and other woven objects, and
had some similarity in culture traits to the San Juan Basketmakers or
Anasazi of the Four Corners area. Moreover, there is some similarity in
culture traits to the Big Bend Basketmakers of Texas and the Ozark Bluff
Dwellers. Perhaps the name best suited for this group would be “cave
dwellers,” as they used caves of all sizes, from small overhangs to
those of huge proportions, for shelter. Yet, it must be remembered that
seasonally they lived in the open. However, to avoid later confusion, we
shall refer to them as the Carlsbad Basketmakers.
The Carlsbad Basketmakers were an unusual group only “here and there
adopting a few cultural traits from their neighbors, but essentially
remaining food gatherers and hunters,” a rather simple state of culture
as compared to their contemporaries.
Our group was in contact with the Mogollon people to the west before 900
A.D., and possibly 600 years earlier. Pottery found here indicates this
as well as other contacts. (See Map.) Pottery is somewhat like a
fingerprint. There are certain features about it which are peculiar to
only one particular area, and that is the area within which it was made.
Consequently, pottery can show time, trade, contact, and movement of
ceramic-making prehistoric peoples. At about this same time, social
intercourse was also being carried on with the Hueco Basketmakers to the
west and the Big Bend Basketmakers to the south.
[Illustration: _The combined use of metate and mortar was found
here_]
After 1200, we find Chaco or true Anasazi influence coming into the Rio
Grande valley to Gran Quivera, thence to southeastern New Mexico. This
influence represents the Pueblo Indians who apparently changed the
Carlsbad Basketmakers’ way of life more than any other. This continued
until sometime between 1500 and 1600, when a drastic and complete change
came over all the aboriginal peoples in this section.
The Spanish entered the Southwest, bringing the horse, which prompted
this change. The Apaches had slowly been working their way southward
from sometime after 1300 A.D. By trade and theft they acquired horses
from the Spanish, and, in so doing, the long and bloody career of the
Apaches got under way. This freedom and rapidity of movement afforded by
the horse allowed them to raid, pillage, and murder Indians and Spanish
alike. It is about this time that we lose track of our Basketmakers.
[Illustration: _A small cave dwelling in Walnut Canyon_]
What happened to them is pure supposition. The Carlsbad Basketmakers,
for defense or economic reasons, probably joined the Pueblo groups of
either the Gran Quivera or El Paso areas and became completely absorbed.
Many Pueblo traits found here contribute to this supposition, such as
pottery changes and physical changes of the people themselves. For
example, the early Carlsbad Basketmakers were long-headed individuals
(dolichocephalic). Near the end of their era the head shape changed by
artificial deformation, or flattening, brought about by the use of a
hard cradle board, to a broad head or brachycephalic type. All along the
line there was an admixture of physical types, with the three types
being present; long, medium (mesocephalic), and broad.
The Carlsbad Basketmaker would very likely fit into practically any
present Pueblo group and not be noticed. He was of medium stature, about
5′4″-5′6″ in average height. His life span was between 30-35 years, and
he suffered from arthritis, bad teeth, and broken bones quite often.
The material culture of a people is, perhaps, their most important
characteristic, as it represents the utilization of the natural
resources in a particular area or environment. Caves were used for a
number of purposes: burial, ceremonial, transitory living, etc. It is
from these caves that archaeologists dig out the material objects left
by prehistoric people and are able to reconstruct the story of the
occupants.
As previously mentioned, the name of our Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Indians was applied because they made excellent baskets and woven
objects. Coiled baskets of yucca with grass, sotol, or twigs of flexible
wood as the binder were the most common. Most baskets have designs of
various colors woven into them. Red-brown dye was probably made from
mountain mahogany. The black was strips of Devil’s Claw (_Martynia
arenaria_). Baskets were waterproofed by smearing pine pitch or mesquite
gum on them.
Sandals of yucca and grasses are found in abundance. The square-toed
sandal is the most prominent, although the round fishtailed type is
common. Both were woven with a variety of ply-thicknesses. They ranged
from 5 to 11 inches in length, and 2½ to 4 inches in width. The only
known sandal fragment found in the natural entrance to the Caverns is of
the square-toed type and is classed as a two warp-two ply.
[Illustration: _The Basketmaker paintings on the south wall of the
natural entrance to the Carlsbad Caverns_]
[Illustration: Basketmaker paintings]
Yucca seems to have been the most-used plant for weaving. Mats of yucca
and beargrass were woven in a variety of ways. A coarse cloth netting
and cordage of yucca fiber was used for snaring rabbits and other small
game, and large bags of yucca fiber cordage were made for burial
purposes. These cone-shaped, twine-woven bags were sometimes quite
elaborately woven of red and white cords with horizontal black and
yellow bands running completely around them.
Cotton was grown to the west, and some combination of cotton and yucca
fabrics was made here. Clothing or blankets of animal fur (usually
rabbit) and feather (turkey) cloth was common. (This turkey cloth was
probably traded from the Pueblos.) Too, plain fur, cloth, and skin robes
were used for covering.
Hair was woven into rope, as were mesquite fiber and agave. Raw material
apparently kept on hand as fiber bundles and rings of grass were common
finds. V-shaped cradles were made of grass, and sleeping pits were lined
with it.
Pottery is really incidental; and, for the most part, intrusive to
southeastern New Mexico. It is questionable if the area inhabitants made
pottery, but they probably did to some extent. There is found a
considerable amount of plain brown ware, and it occurs from early to
late times. This ware, although unnamed except for “plain Brown,” is
thought to be of local manufacture. Practically all pottery found here
was fired in the presence of oxygen (oxidizing atmosphere). A number of
types, varying in color from a terracotta, through brown, to reddish
tones, are all classed as brown ware.
The earliest pottery found in southeastern New Mexico is Mogollon in
origin. Mogollon pottery is a derivative from southwestern New Mexico
and southeastern Arizona. The Mogollon brown and red wares found in this
section are definitely pre-900 A.D., and possibly pre-700. These wares
are found to have been used through 1150 A.D.
The big influx of pottery came during late Pueblo III and Pueblo IV
times from 1150 to 1450 A.D. From the west came Mimbres Black on White,
which dates from 1050 to 1200 A.D., Jornada Brown, El Paso Polychrome,
and Brown wares. From the north, northwest, and west, because of Pueblo
expansion, came Three Rivers Red on Terracotta, St. Johns Polychrome
(from the Zuni area), Chupadero Black on White (from Gran Quivira),
Lincoln Black on Red, and Rio Grande glaze wares. It is interesting to
note that pottery changes in this area parallel those of the Mogollon to
some degree.
Our Basketmakers were dependent primarily upon wild plant foods, as corn
seems to be lacking; and they supplemented their diet by some hunting of
game. To the south of the Park is the Black River. In this fertile
valley, with its continuous water supply, it is logical to assume that
corn was probably cultivated; but there is absolutely no evidence to
prove this. Corn was grown about 50 miles north, near Hope, New Mexico,
where Pueblo-like settlements were common from 1150 to 1300 A.D. Corn,
beans, and squash may have been traded to our cave people by the
Pueblos. Lack of practiced agriculture in the Guadalupe Mountain area
was probably due to the scarcity of water. Water from seeps, springs,
and shallow depressions in the limestone was, of course, utilized.
The roasted young bud and heart of the mescal or agave plant apparently
was the paramount food, with the cabbage-like base or heart of the sotol
running a close second. Yucca pulp and seeds, mesquite beans (Tornillo
or screwbean), grass seeds, piñon nuts, acorns, walnuts, cactus fruits
(prickly pear and cholla), wild onions, wild potatoes and other bulb or
tuber-bearing plants, grapes, berries and others were utilized. Herbs
from true sage brush (_Artemisia_), wild tobacco, and possibly soap made
from the roots of the yucca _radiosa_ were used. A favorite quick food
was the young flower stalks of yucca in season.
Mescal hearts and baked sotol leaves were stored in caves in cists lined
with grass, twigs and bark. Stone slab-lined storage cists were known
also.
Mesquite beans were pulverized into meal, as substantiated by the many
mortar holes throughout the area. The meal was probably fashioned by
pounding the beans and pods together, winnowing out the pods, grinding
until fairly uniform, and eating them either raw or molded into cakes
and cooked in ashes, or into soups. Gourds were used for a household
receptacle, probably as a ladle or dipper.
The entire country is dotted with large “midden circles.” The one most
seen by visitors is located at the natural entrance. For years these
circles have erroneously been called “mescal pits” and were thought to
have been used strictly for baking or roasting the mescal plant by both
our Basketmakers and later the Apaches. In remote instances, it is
possible that the Apaches used them, but not as a common practice.
The main difference between the Basketmaker midden circle and the Apache
mescal pit is that the true mescal pit or earth oven is a depression
definitely sunk below the ground level, whereas the midden circle is on
ground level. Consequently, the midden circle had other uses than the
preparation of mescal hearts.
There are three types of midden circles. The most common is the circular
mound, which is found up to an altitude of 7500 feet, and out
considerable distances into the flats. It is of interest to note that no
midden circles of the Carlsbad Basketmakers are found east of the Pecos
River. The circular ones will average from 30 to 35 feet in diameter in
this area.
“The first stage (of development) seems to have begun with the
construction of a fireplace composed of fairly large rocks. When heat
had cracked these into fragments too small to be useful, the broken bits
were then cleared away from a circle about the fire and the hearth
rebuilt with other large stones, which in turn were discarded when
broken down by heat. When this process had been repeated many times, the
cleared circle immediately around the fire was surrounded by a ring
formed by an accumulation of the rejected small stones. In course of
time and with constant additions of ash and discarded rock, the
resulting mound grew to such height that it might even have proved
serviceable as a wind break. That such a method was employed seems quite
probable, because all the stones composing the outer ring show hard
firing, while scattered through the mass are found ashes and rejecta of
a camp. If this hypothesis is accepted, a large number of these
structures would indicate an extended occupation or perhaps repeated
occupation over a comparatively long period.” (Mera)
[Illustration: _This drawing shows the three stages of development
of the midden circle_]
The second type is found on ledges or narrow terraces along canyon walls
and was elongated in shape. The third is built out in front of caves and
shelters and takes on a rough half-circle shape. The mescal pit as used
by the Apaches is described in their section.
[Illustration: _A Basketmaker Midden Circle or cooking pit_]
[Illustration: _A cut-bank showing an elongated Basketmaker Midden
in Slaughter Canyon_]
Practically all game was hunted, notably mule deer, elk, and buffalo;
and next, if not the most important, rabbits, both the cottontail and
jackrabbit. Also, antelope, plains white-tail deer, big horn sheep,
peccary (Javelina), mountain lion, bobcat, wolf, fox, coyote, badger,
porcupine, ring-tailed cat, opossum, prairie dog, armadillo, pack rat,
kangaroo-rat, muskrat, field mouse, white-foot mouse, beaver, pocket
mouse, ground squirrel, pocket gopher as well as fish, ducks, hawks,
owls, quail, desert tortoise, pigeons, doves, large terrapin, lizards,
and snakes were utilized.
Our people had the dog and probably ate him in time of famine. Although
some turkey bones have been found, it is quite certain that this bird
was not domesticated here as it was among the Pueblos. Needless to say,
leather was fashioned from the skins of practically all animals and was
used for pouches, snares, etc.
Usually the first thing to enter our minds when stone is mentioned in
connection with aboriginal peoples is arrowheads or projectile points.
Stone was used for many and varied purposes, and it would be difficult
to list these in order of importance. Projectile points were, of course,
important, though used primarily for hunting rather than warfare. Points
of various sizes, shapes and materials were used by the Carlsbad
Basketmakers. First were the dart and lance points, and later, as arrow
points, after the introduction of the bow to the Southwest. Flints,
cherts, and chalcedonies were the most common materials used for points
and small tools, although rhyolite, felsite, etc., have been found.
Stone was worked by grinding, pecking, drilling, and percussion and
pressure flaking.
Mortars were usually cut into stationary rock near camping places such
as those seen near the natural entrance to the Caverns, although small
portable mortars were used to some extent. The pestles were usually made
of granite and were carried from camp to camp, as pestles with yucca
leaf carrying-straps have been found.
[Illustration: _Projectile points, pottery, decorated sea shell, a
mano-pestle and a sandal fragment from Carlsbad Caverns National
Park_
(_National Park Service Photo_)
]
Metates or grinding bowls are less common. Metates were made from
limestone, sandstone, and granite, while the mano, the small stone used
for crushing and grinding on the metate, was composed of limestone,
granite, and travertine. The metates are oval, circular, and semi-flat
in appearance, and the manos are of the one-hand type.
Leaf-shaped knives, end scrapers, side scrapers, drills, choppers,
hammerstones, rubbing or smoothing stones, axes and stone pipes were
made and used.
Found throughout the Guadalupe Mountains, sometimes at the head of
canyons, usually on the canyon floors, are small stone cairns and stone
rings or circles. To date, no feasible explanation is given as to their
function. These are not to be confused with the “midden circles”
previously mentioned.
For other than fuel, wood was widely used as clubs, digging sticks,
atlatl, darts, spear foreshafts, bows, arrows, projectile points, fire
sets (drill and hearth), seed storage tubes, fending sticks, throwing
sticks (rabbit sticks), and wooden stoppers for canteens.
[Illustration: _One of the mortar holes near the mouth of the
entrance to the Carlsbad Caverns_
(_National Park Service Photo_)
]
Woodworking with stone tools consisted of seven methods: chopping,
whittling, shaving and planing, sawing, splitting, gouging and scoring,
scraping and sanding.
Fire was made with the use of a wooden hearth. Friction was created by
revolving the point of a stick with the hands in a small depression in
the hearth, which contained tinder of punk wood, shredded inner bark or
grass. Cedar or juniper bark was probably used for torches.
Animal bone was used for awls, stone flaking tools, jewelry ornaments
and weaving tools; animal horn or antler was used much the same. There
is a slight possibility that bone gaming dice were made and used, as
perhaps were horn ladles and dippers.
In earlier times our Basketmakers used the atlatl as their predominant
weapon or hunting implement. It was composed of two parts; the stick for
throwing the dart, and the dart itself. Later the bow and arrow replaced
this implement in importance. Atlatls were from 19 to 25 inches in
length and were made of oak, mesquite, thorn growth Tornillo, sinew and
buckskin. Occasionally a small stone was attached to add weight and
balance. Atlatl dart shafts consisted of two parts. The foreshaft was of
heavy oak or comparatively hard wood with a stone point. This was
inserted into the main shaft of sotol bloom stalks. The idea being upon
impact that the base would fall away from the foreshaft, thus allowing
full penetration and less chance of the animal or man knocking or
pulling it out. Both the atlatl and dart shafts were sometimes highly
decorated. A variety of stone points were used as was the dart bunt,
which possibly was used as a stunner as its appearance suggests. The
dart bunt was a round wooden knob carved to insert into the main shaft.
Bows and arrows were made of varied hardwoods and reeds. Bows had an
average pull of about 40 pounds and were from 3½ to 5 feet in length.
Arrows were 20 to 28 inches long, and the bowstring was either yucca
fiber or sinew.
The lance or spear, ordinary stick clubs, grooved fending sticks, round
fending sticks, flattened and round throwing sticks found may also have
been used as weapons.
Disposition of the dead was accomplished by burying with offerings in a
flexed or semi-flexed position on the back, or cremated with the burned
remains being buried in bags or baskets.
The graves are usually small and quite shallow. Burials are found in
caves, midden circles, and open sites—practically any place where
digging was easy. Quite often the unburned burials had a “kill hole”
pottery bowl placed over the face. Cremation, from all appearances, was
practiced earlier and was concurrent to inhumation.
The few skeletal remains found in the natural entrance and Bat Cave
section of the Carlsbad Caverns suggest midden type burials or
accidental demise, perhaps by falling.
Possibly one of the most interesting and still visible bits of evidence
of the Carlsbad Basketmakers are the pictographs or paintings on the
south wall of the Cave entrance. These markings are badly weathered, but
one can distinguish what appears once to have been a red figure with
black up-raised arms of a person, and blobs of red and black which may
have been anything.
In other caves over the area have been found other pictographs
(paintings) and petroglyphs (pecked) designs. Paints were made from red
hematite (red oxide of iron); red and yellow ochers; blue and green from
copper carbonates, azurite and malachite; black carbon and white
kaolinite.
Occasionally there are found small pebbles with painted designs or lines
on them, but their function is unknown.
Jewelry consisted of wooden combs and wooden pin hair ornaments, beads
and pendants of white and pink shell, gypsum, black beidellite,
turquoise, bone, squash seeds and sections of reeds. Beads were strung
on hair cord or yucca fiber cord. Bracelets of Glycimeris shell were
worn.
For the most part the shell tells of considerable trade to the Gulf of
Mexico and the Gulf of California by our people. Fresh water mussel
shells common to the Pecos River were also used for ornaments. Trade was
carried on from Mexico into this general region as indicated by the
finds of copper bells and macaw parrot feathers from Pueblo ruins in
southern New Mexico.
Ceremonial paraphernalia finds are rather rare. Fragments of a golden
eagle feather headdress, rattles of gourds, and turtle or tortoise
shells, pahos (prayer sticks), wooden wands and wooden painted tablitas
(headdresses) have been unearthed in Guadalupe Mountain caves. Closely
related to ceremonial purposes, and usually found in close association
with the above, are reed cigarettes and whistles, prayer offerings of
miniature fending sticks, fiber balls, gaming dice (sticks or counters),
as well as possible ceremonial bow sets. As to how the ceremonial
objects were used is, naturally, conjecture.