Most pottery was undecorated. Only four sherds of painted pottery, which consisted of a crude gray ware with broad red lines, were found. The predominant types were a plain buff or brown ware and a polished red ware such as were found at the SU site. A few of the former fall in the category of textured pottery. This is pottery which has been embellished through techniques, such as scoring, incising, or punching, which change the character of the surface. There are no corrugated types in the early Mogollon, but a few pieces have banded necks, or have been scored. Textured pottery became increasingly common in later periods.
Metates were made of unshaped stone blocks and were basin-shaped. Projectile points were short and broad stemmed. Large stemmed blades and stemmed drills were also made. Pipes were made of clay. They were short and were formed in one piece.
Little is known of the physical type of the people and their burial customs, since only one grave has been found which may be attributed to this period. This contained the skeleton of an adult male with a slightly deformed skull who had been buried beneath the floor of a Georgetown house at Starkweather Ruin.
Following the Georgetown in New Mexico comes theSan Franciscostage for which the dates 700 to 900 A.D. have been tentatively suggested.[50]A few datable logs have been found in structures assigned to the latter part of the period. The approximate age is given in round numbers with the terminal date as 900, although two logs gave dates of 927. The terminal date for the Georgetown and the beginning date for the San Francisco stage are by no means firmly established.
There are such distinct changes between Georgetown and San Francisco times, particularly as regards architecture, that an intervening period has been postulated. Excavations in Arizona are thought to provide evidence to substantiate this belief, but there are as yet no published accounts. It has also been suggested that the marked changes were due to outside influences, possibly both Anasazi and Hohokam. Still another theory advanced to account for the architectural changes at the beginning of the San Francisco stage is that theculturewas modified by the addition of a Colonial Hohokam house type.[99]It is generally agreed that after about 700 or 800 A.D. the Mogollon was a highly mixed culture, but there are many questions which cannot be answered until more evidence is available. Whatever the explanation,many culture traits, notably house types, did change.
Fig. 55—Postulated reconstructions of the dwelling units of the three Mogollon phases represented by the houses in the Harris Village. (After Haury.[50]Courtesy Gila Pueblo.) a. Georgetown.
Fig. 55—Postulated reconstructions of the dwelling units of the three Mogollon phases represented by the houses in the Harris Village. (After Haury.[50]Courtesy Gila Pueblo.) a. Georgetown.
b. San Francisco.
b. San Francisco.
c. Three Circle.
c. Three Circle.
The small, roughly circular houses were replaced by deep rectangular pit houses with roofs supported by a main center pole and auxiliary poles along the long axis. Most had side entrances, but in some cases the entrance was through the roof. Some of the wood taken from these houses has yielded tree-ring dates. At Mogollon Village four houses, believed to have been occupied at the close of the period, contained datable logs. The dates fell between 896 and 908 A.D. AtStarkweather Ruin, a house attributed to the San Franciscophaseyielded two logs with dates of 927 A.D.
In addition to the domiciliary structures, there were larger houses thought to have been of a ceremonial nature. These were kidney-shaped as a result of the drawing in of the sides at the entrance. They did not have ventilators. Storage pits were rare in houses but occurred frequently between the structures. They were usually undercut, so that they were wider at the bottom than at the top.
The same pottery types found in the Georgetownphasecontinued to be made and red-on-brown and red-on-white painted wares were also produced. Textured pottery increased in importance and included banded, punched, and scored forms.
Basin-shaped metates persisted, but there were also troughed forms, closed at one end. Grooved mauls are found in San Francisco levels. Grooved axes are not found in all sites, but some were obtained from the San Franciscohorizonat Starkweather Ruin. Other stone work included broad-bladed hoes, roughly shaped stone vessels and both long and short pipes. Projectile points, blades, and drills were like the earlier types. A distinctive implement, and an important feature of the Mogollonculture, was a form of bone awl with a notch cut a short distance below the head. Shell work was rare, but a few beads and bracelets made of this material have been found.
Graves are usually found scattered between the structures, although at Starkweather Ruin two adult burials were found below a house floor. Offerings were scarce, but in some cases vessels were broken and the pieces scattered in the grave. This foreshadows the practice of “ceremonial killing” of pottery which became so marked later. It is believed that this was done to permit the release of the spirit or soul of the pottery. While inhumation was the chief method of disposing of the dead, cremation was practiced in a very few cases and the ashes and unconsumed bones placed in pits. Thistraitmay have been derived from the Hohokam to the west. A study of the skeletal remains indicate that the people had relatively low, broad heads and did not practice deformation.
In the seventh and eighth centuries another site of great interest was occupied in east-central Arizona. This site, which is known as the Bear Ruin, lies in the Forestdale Valley some eight miles south of Showlow. Tree-ring dates were obtained from three beams. The datesfall in the middle of the seventh century. These logs may have been cut at any time during the building period, however, and it is only through finding pottery of known age that archaeologists have arrived at the dates of 600 to 800 A.D. for the estimated age of occupation.
Bear Ruin is important because it shows hybridizing and blending of Mogollon and Anasazi traits. Probably the Mogollon was the originalcultureon which were superimposed certain Anasazi traits. Eventually the former is thought to have been so completely overlaid by the latter as to practically disappear, not only here, but also in other parts of the territory.
The people who lived in Bear Ruin, in the days when it was not a ruin but an inhabited village, were equally dependent on hunting and agriculture. They lived both in round and rectangular pit houses. Seventeen of these have been excavated, and it is thought that this may represent about fifty per cent of the village.
Most of the houses resemble those of the Anasazi area, yet some are like Mogollon houses and others show a combination of Anasazi and Mogollon elements. None contained either masonry or slab linings. A largekivawas found on the outskirts of the village. It contained a grooved trench, dug into the floor, which, it is thought, may have provided a fastening for the lower beams of looms.
Cooking was apparently done over large rock hearths in and about the houses. The technique employed may have been to fill pits with rocks which were then heated. Food wrapped in some insulating material, such as grass, was then placed in the pit and covered with hot rocks topped with earth. Thistraitis one of those which, it has been suggested, may have been derived from the ancient Cochise people.
The Bear Ruin people did not make any painted pottery, but this must have been a matter of choice, for they were familiar with the painted wares of the Anasazi, Mogollon, and Hohokam, which they imported. A great percentage of the indigenous pottery was the plain buff to reddish-brown ware so plentiful in all early Mogollon sites. One distinctive type of pottery found in the Forestdale Valley is characterized by a black interior and a brown or reddish-brown exterior marked by black fire clouds. These clouds or smudges are the result of pottery coming in contact with fuel during the firing process. Another Forestdale type is a gray to light-brown ware which may represent a fusion of Basketmaker gray ware and Mogollon buff ware. A third is a red-brown pottery mottled by fire clouds.
The dead were buried in shallow pits scattered throughout the village. Bodies usually lay on the back in a semi-flexed position with the heads to the northeast. Most of the graves contained mortuary offerings, usually pottery. One child was found buried with seventeen vessels. Nine of these were miniatures and were possibly his toys. Due to soil conditions, bones were poorly preserved. What evidence could be obtained from them indicates the presence of a mixed population, such as would be expected on the basis of the mixture of traits shown in the materialculture.
In New Mexico further changes took place during theThree Circlestage which followed the San Francisco. Pit houses were somewhat smaller and shallower and were all rectangular and often stone-lined. Roofs were usually supported by four main posts placed near the corners. Sometimes the supports were incorporated in the wall. In some cases, the side entrances were short and sometimes started with a step. Besides the domestic structures, there were also larger rectangular pit houses with long inclined entrances which are thought to have been of a ceremonial nature.
Troughed metates entirely replaced the basin-shaped variety. Manos were shaped and four-sided in form. Axes were sometimes notched and sometimes grooved for hafting. Stone vessels were still simple, but were sometimes ornamented withincisedpatterns. Serrations on both edges characterized the arrow points which were long and narrow-stemmed. Stone palettes appear in thishorizon. They may have been inspired or introduced by the Hohokam, or they may have evolved from the simple paint grinding stones such as those found in the SU site. Stone pipes and short clay pipes with fitted stems have been found.
With the exception of red-on-brown pottery, wares already described continued to be made. A black-on-white pottery, which apparently shows a Pueblo influence from the north, was added to the assemblage. Textured pottery became more important.
Shell was widely used as a material, although only a few species were represented. Olivella shells and double-lobed pieces of cut shell were used as beads. Thin bracelets were made of glycymeris shell. Some beads were tubular forms made of bone. Others were made from hackberry seeds, and one infant was found buried with hundreds of these.
In general, burials were like those of the preceding period. Cremations continued to be very rare.
More and more the Mogollon people were affected by outside cultural influences. By about 950 or 1000 A.D. theirculturehad been so greatly altered and was submerged to such an extent that the resulting blend may be considered a new entity and given another name. Thisphaseor culture is called theMimbres. It was named after the Mimbres River, for this valley seems to represent the focal point of the culture. The greatest development centers in Grant County, New Mexico, where excavated sites include the Swarts Ruin,[21]the Mattocks Ruin,[98]the Galaz Ruin,[8]and Cameron Creek Village.[6]
In these sites is found evidence of rapid changes in the construction of dwellings. The earliest houses were Mogollon-type pit houses, sometimes slab-lined. These were followed by semi-subterranean and single surface houses with rubble masonry. In the latest stage, houses were built entirely above the surface. They were one-story pueblolike buildings consisting of clusters of rooms. In some cases there were no more than five rooms, in others there were more than fifty. The larger structures sometimes had inner courts or plazas and at Swarts Ruin, where there are two big houses, there was a large danceplazabetween the two buildings. Walls were built of masonry, often made of river boulders. Roofs were made of beams covered with brush, grass, reeds, and adobe. Some contained trap-doors, covered with stone slabs, which provided a means of entrance. In one architecturally advanced building there were windows. In the rooms were fireplaces and rock-walled storage bins. Kivas were rectangular, underground chambers.
One interestingtraitof the Mimbreños was the practice of burying the dead under the house floors, although the houses continued to be occupied. In one room a total of thirty-two, sub-floor burials were found. Although this practice was the most common one, it was not always followed, for there were some burials outside of the houses and in the fill of unoccupied rooms, and a few cremations have been found.
Archaeologists are very grateful to the ancient Mimbres people for their habit of burying pots with the dead, for it is to this that we owe our knowledge of some of the most beautiful and interesting pottery that has ever been made. A few old people and children wereburied without offerings, but most bodies had one or more bowls placed over the head. Metates and manos were also often placed in women’s graves, and there was some jewelry. One interesting feature of burial pottery, apart from the magnificent skill which went into its decoration, was the presence of a hole, usually punched into the pot with a sharp instrument, or sometimes drilled. It is believed that this was done to release the spirit or soul of the vessel which was thought to be a part of the maker. The ceremonial killing of pottery probably took place at the grave, for the piece knocked out of a pot is often found associated with it in the burial. Metates were often similarly treated.
The plain burnished-buff and polished-red wares of the Mogollon continued to be made, but black-on-white pottery assumed the greatest importance, and fine corrugated cooking ware began to be produced. There is also some polychrome ware with red and black designs on a white background. It was in the field of black-on-white ware that the ancient Mimbreños reached an artistic peak which has seldom, if ever, been surpassed in the medium of pottery. The black-on-white color combination at once suggests Pueblo influence. Certain design elements are reminiscent of the Hohokam, however.
Bowls were the usual shape. Designs were sometimes positive, sometimes negative. They were of two types, geometric and naturalistic. Both are equally remarkable. The geometric designs are very beautiful and are characterized by an extraordinary sureness of touch which is revealed by the accuracy of spacing and the precision of line. In one case, for example, twenty-seven parallel lines are to be found in a band less than two inches in width. The bowls with naturalistic designs show the same fine sense of composition. Some depict charming, surrealist creatures which Dali might be proud to claim, but others are quite realistic. The forms shown include birds, insects, quadrupeds, fish, and human beings.
From these we can gather certain clues to help us reconstruct something of the way of life of the people who painted them. Turkeys were among the birds most commonly represented, but a lack of turkey bones in the refuse heaps suggests that they were not used for food. Remains of fish, which are also commonly represented, have not been found, but this may, of course, be due to the fragility of their bones. Most useful are the designs showing human beings. There are some narrative scenes which show such activities as men fighting bears, setting snares, dancing, and picking bugs from corn plants. From pictures of people, we may learn something of the clothing which was worn. Men are shown wearing breech cloths. Women are sometimes represented wearing a fringed sash and sandals. Some are shown wearing blankets which extend below the waist and with fringed sashes hanging down in back. Their hair was worn in whorls on the side, much like the present head dress of unmarried Hopi girls. We know from burials that skull deformation was widely practiced, and this adds to our knowledge of the appearance of the people. Jewelry was rather widely worn. It is shown on human figures painted on bowls, and examples are found in graves. Beads were made of stone and shell. Turquoise was used in the manufacture of beads, in inlaying, and in making pendants which were worn as ear bobs. There were many bracelets and carved pendants of shell.
Fig. 56—Mimbres black-on-white pottery. Note hole in center of upper bowl which shows that the vessel has been “killed.” (Courtesy School of American Research.)
Fig. 56—Mimbres black-on-white pottery. Note hole in center of upper bowl which shows that the vessel has been “killed.” (Courtesy School of American Research.)
Stone implements include grooved axes, hoes, large knives, projectile points, and manos and troughed metates. Some interesting artifacts are mortars and pestles believed to have been used for crushing nuts and seeds. Some mortars were holes dug into rock outcrops and boulders. A considerable number of palettes have been found. Bone was widely used in the manufacture of awls. Some of these have decorated heads carved in the form of mountain sheep.
During the twelfth century the Mimbres people left their old haunts. Theculturemay have persisted for some time in some of the outlying districts to the south but the main area was left unoccupied. During Regressive-Pueblo times it was inhabited for a time by Pueblo people, but there were no occupied villages at the time of Coronado. Why the Mimbreños deserted this fertile valley, we do not know. There is no evidence of warfare and no sign of a hurried departure. When the people moved they must have had time to gather their belongings together and take them with them, for only heavy stone artifacts were left behind. We do not know where these people went after leaving the Mimbres Valley. The best guess seems to be that they moved south into Mexico where they were assimilated and absorbed by other groups, and that they lost their identity among the people of Chihuahua.
We may summarize the Mogollon problem as follows: In west-central New Mexico and east-central Arizona have been found certain sites which do not follow entirely the same pattern as Anasazi or Hohokam sites. There are a number of possible theories to explain the development of theculturerepresented by these sites. It may have been derived from the Anasazi, it may represent an early fusion ofthe Anasazi and Hohokam cultures or, it may be a separate cultural entity which possibly developed from the eastern branch of the ancient Cochise Culture. During the earliest periods it had certain traits which, in the opinion of many archaeologists, make it necessary to consider it a separatebasic culture. Houses were of the pit house type with long sloping entrances. Agriculture was practiced, but there was a great dependence on the gathering of wild foods and on hunting. Theatlatlwas used, as well as the bow. Pottery was made by a coiling and scraping technique, was fired in anoxidizing atmosphere, and was usually well polished. A painted ware with red designs on a brown background and a red-on-white ware were later added and textured pottery increased in importance. Pipes were made of clay and of stone. Bone awls were often notched on one side. The dead were usually buried outside the houses. There were some cremations.
From about 700 or 800 A.D. on, there is evidence of more and more outside influences. By around 950 or 1000 A.D. there were so many changes in the Mimbres Valley that the resulting blend is often referred to as a separateculture. Single pit houses were replaced by multi-roomed pueblolike structures built above the ground. Black-on-white pottery was the dominant ware and reached a high degree of excellence. The dead were usually buried under house floors. Cranial deformation was widely practiced. The Mimbres Valley was deserted in the middle of the twelfth century and we can only conjecture where the people who had inhabited it went.
As may readily be seen, the whole Mogollon problem appears to be verycomplex. This is always the case when acultureor an area is first investigated and the long job of studying it is in its initial stages. Apparently the Mogollon people influenced their neighbors to the north and to the west, and were influenced by them, but we are not yet in a position to evaluate these trends.
In northern Arizona have been found many remains of prehistoric people who were contemporaneous with and had certain traits in common with the Anasazi, and it was originally thought that they all belonged to thisculture. Later, and more intensive, studies have shown that the problem is morecomplexthan was first believed. Apparently various tribes were represented, and at present archaeologists are not in agreement as to the cultures to which all of these groups should be assigned.[29]The people of the Kayenta region were Anasazis, but in north-central and northwestern parts of the state lived other people whose affiliations are not yet known with certainty. It has been suggested that the best known group may represent a branch of the Mogollon but it has not been definitely assigned to this culture.
This group is called theSinagua. It first occupied the area about the San Francisco Mountains and, later, the Verde Valley. The characteristic pottery is a brown utility ware of paddle-and-anvil manufacture, fired in anoxidizing atmosphere. The surface is smoothed and sometimes polished. Tree-ring dates have not been satisfactorily established for the earliest period, but, on the basis of pottery finds, it has been estimated that the San Francisco Mountain area was occupied between 500 and 700 A.D. by people who lived in round and rectangular pit houses with center firepits and long sloping entrances to the east. Roofs were of sloping poles covered with earth.
These were followed by fairly deep, timber pit houses. Walls were made of a series of upright poles lashed together, with larger poles set in corners to provide support for a roof platform. The entire structure was covered with grass or bark, and earth was banked over it. These timber pit houses at first had long sloping entrances to the east, but these were later reduced to serve as ventilators, and entrance was through the roof.
In locations unsuitable for the construction of pit houses, there were also surface or near-surface houses. In places where drainage was poor and the ground was boggy, they were built on artificially constructed earth mounds some eight to twelve inches high. These have been called platform or alcove houses. They are roughly rectangular and have a small extension or alcove which was used as an entrance. The alcove may have served a further purpose and supplied additionalstorage space, although rectangular surface granaries made of timber seem to be associated with these houses.
Fig. 57—Map of the Southwest showing probable areas occupied by the Sinagua group and the PatayanCulture. Dotted area, Sinagua; 1. Southern branch, 2. Northern branch. Hatched area, Patayan; 3. Cohonina branch, 4. Prescott branch. (Based on maps by Colton[18][19]and McGregor.[87])
Fig. 57—Map of the Southwest showing probable areas occupied by the Sinagua group and the PatayanCulture. Dotted area, Sinagua; 1. Southern branch, 2. Northern branch. Hatched area, Patayan; 3. Cohonina branch, 4. Prescott branch. (Based on maps by Colton[18][19]and McGregor.[87])
Sometime between 1046 and 1070 A.D., probably in 1066, a volcano fifteen miles northeast of the present town of Flagstaff erupted. This volcano, now known as Sunset Crater, covered some 800 square miles with a black ash, and forced the early inhabitants to flee from their homes on the lower slopes of the San Francisco Mountains. This seeming disaster, however, was really a very fortunate occurrence, for the fine black material strewn over the countryside by the volcano provided a mulch which aided in conserving moisture and made the practice of agriculture possible over a wider area.
Fig. 58—Montezuma Castle National Monument, Arizona. (Courtesy National Park Service.)
Fig. 58—Montezuma Castle National Monument, Arizona. (Courtesy National Park Service.)
Not only did the original Sinagua people return to the area, but Hohokam and Pueblo people moved in too, bringing with them their own special traits. The Hohokam introduced their type of architecture and their distinctive ball courts, and the Anasazi introduced the Pueblo architecture which was adopted by the Sinaguans. At first, masonry was used to replace timbers in pit houses, but in a very short time the Sinagua people began building surface masonry dwellings and multi-roomed pueblos became the rule.
During the years of the great drought of 1276 to 1299, many more people left the area and moved farther south into the Hohokam territory where some Sinaguans had already settled. Shortly after 1300 A.D. the Flagstaff area was abandoned. Some people stayed in the Verde Valley and built large pueblos. This southern branch is best known from the impressive sites of Tuzigoot[13]and Montezuma Castle, now National Monuments. Others may have gone farther south and mixed with the Hohokam in the Gila Basin, and some may have moved to the Little Colorado area and may be among the ancestors of the present Hopi Indians.
The prehistoric people who lived in the valley of the Colorado River below the Grand Canyon are the least well known in the Southwest, for most information about them has been derived only from surface surveys. Originally, the termYumanwas applied to these people, for Indians speaking a Yuman language were found there by the first white men to visit the area.[35]Some archaeologists still use this term, and it is commonly applied to theculturefound in the lower Colorado River basin and adjacent areas in California.[116]Others feel that it is unwise to apply a linguistic term to a prehistoric culture and use the termPatayan, a Walapai word meaning “the old people.”[16]It is postulated that the Patayan or Yuman is abasic cultureor root to which should be given the same status as the Anasazi and Hohokam.
A large population was found in this area when it was visited by Father Kino in 1700, and it is thought that there must have been a great concentration of population in this fertile valley and delta for a long time. In the lower basin of the Colorado River and in the desert area which adjoins it, has been found evidence of ancient people who worked in stone but did not make pottery.[115]A period followed in which more territory was occupied and in which pottery was made. The finding of datable pieces of trade wares in the valley indicates a period of occupation of some 1500 years by people familiar with ceramics.[116]
Archaeologists studying the Patayan or Yumancultureencounter many difficulties. The culture seems to be characterized by a great poverty of material remains, possibly because of a greater use of perishable materials which have not been preserved. Also, until Boulder Dam was built, the river overflowed its banks every year and covered the land with a layer of silt, thus burying much evidence of occupation.[17]
In western and northwestern Arizona, the portion of this area which lies within the scope of this book, the one group of people which has been more or less definitely assigned to the Patayancultureis known only from the finding of distinctive, brown utility-wares. The main center of this tribe seems to have been in the Colorado River valley below Black Canyon.
There are also two other groups of northwestern Arizona which may, or may not, prove to be manifestations of the Patayan pattern.The area below the Grand Canyon and north of the San Francisco Mountains, bounded on the east by the Little Colorado River and on the west by the Grand Wash Cliffs, was occupied between about 700 and 1100 A.D. by a group of people to which the nameCohoninahas been applied.[16]These people lived both in deep and in very shallow pit houses with walls made of timber. It has been suggested that the deep pit houses may represent a Sinaguatraitand that the near-surface houses were the true Cohonina form. Masonry was used in the construction of some of the deep pit houses and granaries and forts. The latter are large rectangular buildings with thick walls and parapets which were probably loop-holed. The building of such structures would suggest unsettled conditions. Some time after 1100 A.D., masonry pueblos were built.
Cohonina pottery was a gray ware made by thepaddle-and-anvilprocess, sometimes scraped for final finishing, and fired in areducing atmosphere. Red paint was often applied over the surface of the vessel after firing. It is impermanent and is commonly called “fugitive red”. Occasionally crude designs were applied with a thin black paint. Jars were the most common form, but some bowls were also made. Arrowheads were of a distinctive type. Cohonina points are slender and roughly triangular, although sometimes the maximum breadth is above the base. They are serrated and unnotched. Little is known of methods of disposing of the dead. It is suspected that cremation was practiced, but that the bones were not gathered after burning.
To the south in the vicinity of Prescott, Arizona, between about 900 and 1000 A.D., lived another group of people.[16]They too built some masonry forts and made gray, paddle-and-anvil pottery with a coarsetempercontaining much mica. Decorations were in black paint. The firing atmosphere was poorly controlled, and there is a variation in color from gray to orange or red, although the paste is the same.
If all this seems needlessly confusing, it must be remembered that even the archaeologists most intimately concerned with the problem are confused too. Only the most fragmentary evidence has been found, but they know that an important chapter in the prehistory of the Southwest lies in the valley of the Colorado River and adjacent areas. They know that eventually they will be able to read it, and, as a result, they will have a greatly improved perspective in their attempts to analyze the whole of prehistoric life in the Southwest. Before the final pages are deciphered, however, so much remains to be done that very likely there will be even more confusion before there is clarification.
In the preceding chapters an attempt has been made to summarize our present knowledge of the prehistory of the great area called the Southwest. Although the Southwest is possibly the best known area in America, we have barely scratched the surface and great discoveries lie ahead. For the present there are many gaps in our knowledge. Doubtless in many cases, data have been incorrectly interpreted. Archaeological opinions are by no means unanimous on all points. In the years to come, other archaeologists with greater knowledge and more refined techniques will reveal new pages of prehistory and re-interpret many of those which their predecessors have tried to decipher. The findings of all science must be regarded, “not as rigid dogma, but as reasonable approximation to truth, certain to be largely extended and modified in the future.”[2]Although there is yet much to be learned and much to be reevaluated, a great deal has already been accomplished in the realm of Southwesternarchaeology. Through scattered clues, carefully assembled and painstakingly studied and correlated it is at least possible to see something of the growth and development of unfamiliar cultures.
Inevitably certain questions are asked of those who devote themselves to such work. “What good isarchaeology?” “Why is it important to know these things?” The best answer seems to be still another question. “Are we sufficiently sure of the worth of our own achievements to deny the value of trying to reconstruct another chapter of human history, even if we have nothing more than pottery and stone to guide us?”[3]According to our standards the prehistoric inhabitants of the Southwest did not achieve civilization. Still, there might be something to be learned from people so uncivilized that they believed that the cultivation of the land, the creation of beautiful as well as useful objects, and keeping in harmony with the great natural forces of the universe, were more important than the subjugation or destruction of their fellow men.
Aborigine—The native inhabitants of a country; in America, the Indians.
Apocynum—A plant, related to the milkweed, which provided fibers used in weaving.
Archaeology—The scientific study of the material remains of human life and human activities in prehistoric or ancient times.
Artifact—A product of human workmanship. Commonly used by archaeologists in speaking of prehistoric tools, implements, etc.
Atlatl—An Aztec word meaning spear-thrower. Atlatls are throwing sticks which have a handle on one end and on the other a spur which fits into a pit or cup drilled into the basal end of a dart shaft. When the dart is thrown theatlatlremains in the hand.
Basic Culture—SeeCulture.
Caliche—A crust or succession of crusts of calcium carbonate that forms within or on top of the soil of arid or semi-arid regions.
Ceramic—Pertaining to pottery and its materials.
Chronology—The study of the method of arranging past events or the material representing them in a sequence of their happenings in relation to years or in relation to each other.
Cist—An oval or circular pit, often slab-lined, used for storage. Cists sometimes served a secondary purpose as depositories for the dead.
Clan—A social group made up of a number of households, the heads of which claim descent in either the male or female line from a common ancestor.
Cloisonne—A surface decoration produced by outlining a design with strips of flat wire and filling the interstices with enamel.
Complex—A group of related traits or characteristics which combine to form a complete activity, process, or cultural unit.
Compound—In the Orient, a wall or fenced enclosure containing a house, buildings, etc. The term is also used to describe the walled enclosures built during Classic Hohokam times.
Corrugated Pottery—Pottery in which the alternate ridges and depressions resulting from a coiling-and-pinching technique of manufacture have not been obliterated.
Coursed Masonry—Masonry constructed of stones lying on approximately level beds.
Cranium—Skull (Plural: Crania)
Culture—The total activities and beliefs of a group of individualswhich may be separated from other groups on the basis of differences in complexes and original differences in geographical and chronological positions. In an archaeological context, the material remains of a group of people which represent traits which they had in common, which differentiated them from other people. ABasic Cultureis, as the name implies, one which provides a base or foundation for succeeding cultures. It is essentially a cultural root from which may spring stems and branches.
Deflector—An upright slab, standing between fireplace and ventilator in a pit house orkiva, designed to protect the fire from inrushing air.
Dendrochronology—A system of establishing an absolute count of years by utilizing the pattern combinations of tree-rings.
Diffusion—The transference of elements ofculturefrom one society to another.
Effigy—An image of a living object.
Ethnology—The scientific study of the cultures of living primitive peoples.
Hatchures—Short, closely spaced, parallel lines used in pottery designs.
Hogan—A Navajo house; one room, domed or conically shaped, made of logs, sometimes with stone side walls, usually covered with earth.
Horizon—In a site, a level or stratum. In aculture, a particular level of development.
Incised—In pottery, grooved in soft clay with a sharp tool.
Jacal—A type of construction in which walls are made of upright poles set at short intervals and heavily plastered with adobe.
Katchinas—Supernatural beings in Pueblo Indian mythology, or masked dancers personifying these beings.
Killed Pottery—Pottery in which a hole has been punched or drilled in order to release the soul or spirit of the vessel which is conceived as being a part of the maker.
Kiva—A ceremonial chamber, usually subterranean and circular.
Mano—A hand stone, usually roughly oblong, used for grinding grains, seeds, etc.
Metate—The grinding stone on which theManois rubbed.
Moraine—An accumulation of earth, stones, etc. carried and finally deposited by a glacier.