Basketmaker culture

Category: Prehistoric tradition

Date: 1-750

Location: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado

Cultures affected: Anasazi, Pueblo

The term “Basketmaker” is used to refer to pre-Pueblo ancestors of the Anasazi civilization in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest. The name is based on archaeological sites in the region that lacked pottery but had evidence of the production of basketry, nets, and sandals. It was introduced as part of a nomenclature for prehistoric peoples at the first Pecos Conference (1927), organized by archaeologist Alfred V. Kidder. Basketmaker I (Early Basketmaker), a designation that has since been dropped, was proposed for a preagricultural stage that is now recognized as the Archaic period. Basketmaker II (Basketmaker) refers to a pre-pottery agricultural stage during which time the atlatl, or spear thrower, was introduced. Basketmaker III (Post-Basketmaker) refers to the earliest pottery-making village farmers, who lived in characteristic pit house dwellings. The Basketmaker stages were followed by the Pueblo I through IV periods, corresponding to the appearance and growth of agricultural villages with contiguous, aboveground rooms.

Among the differences between Basketmaker peoples and Pueblo Indians was their physical appearance. Basketmaker peoples had longer skulls, while skulls of the Pueblo period were flattened. This was originally thought to indicate genetic differences between the earlier and later populations. Actually, however, these differences are attributable instead to the adoption of hard cradle boards and their resultant modification of cranial shape. A continuity in population from the Basketmaker through the Pueblo periods is now widely accepted, and together these are referred to as part of the Anasazi tradition.

Basketmaker II: 1-450 c.e.

The Basketmaker II period is transitional between the nomadic hunting and gathering patterns of the late Archaic period and later sedentary lifeways. Villages were small and widely spaced, with circular pit houses that were deeper in the west than in the east. Natural caves and rock shelters were favored locations for campsites and burials. Food was often stored in caves, using large, jar-shaped pits excavated into the floors and bins made of stone slabs and mud.

The most characteristic trait of Basketmaker II occupations is the absence of pottery at all but a few sites. The principal containers were coiled baskets, nets, and fiber bags. The former included a wide variety of useful containers, including large trays for winnowing grain, conical baskets for collecting seeds, and a range of serving bowls. As noted above, the atlatl, or throwing stick, was utilized during Basketmaker II times. This device improved the leverage of spears tipped with projectile points, increasing the speed, distance, and accuracy with which a spear could be thrown. Flaked projectile points of this period are typically side- or corner-notched, and they were attached to spears with hardwood foreshafts. Ground stone tools represent a continuity of Archaic technology and included a variety of milling stones, with large, basin-shaped grinding slabs and manos (handstones) made from large cobbles. At some sites, trough-shaped metates approach shapes typical of later periods.

The Basketmaker II people were the first people in the Anasazi tradition to utilize agriculture, but wild plant foods and hunting resources remained a significant part of the diet. Among the plant foods collected by Basketmaker II peoples were grass seeds, chenopodium, amaranth, and piñon nuts. There is some evidence for the cultivation of maize and squash, although beans are reportedly absent at this time. The transition to agriculture may have occurred as a response to pressures on wild resources that resulted from growing populations, periods of environmental deterioration, or a combination of the two. Experimentation with cultivated species, farming, and food storage would have provided an adaptive advantage in the face of diminished resources. As these strategies became more efficient, especially with changes in environmental conditions, agricultural populations grew in size and complexity.

Basketmaker III: 450-750

By 450, there was a noticeable preference for settlement near well-watered soils, probably because of an increased reliance on agriculture. Sites are found in both alluvial valleys and upland regions such as mesa tops. With greater utilization of cultivated foods as opposed to wild resources, there was less concern for access to a diversity of natural regions. Sedentism led to an increase in the size and density of settlements. Although some sites consist only of isolated pit houses and hamlet clusters, some villages had more than fifty structures for estimated populations of more than two hundred people. There is evidence for communal construction activities, such as an encircling stockade found at the Gilliland site in southwestern Colorado, and the building of ceremonial structures.

The typical dwellings of Basketmaker III people were pit houses with either circular or rectangular plans and antechambers or large ventilator shafts. These were often augmented with auxiliary storage units, built of jacal (poles and mud) on stone slabs. At Mesa Verde (Colorado), pit houses contained banquettes, clay-lined central hearths, wing walls, and four-post roof supports. In general, the plans of Basketmaker III villages do not indicate any type of organized arrangement. Exceptionally large pit houses, however, have been interpreted as the precursors to great kivas, used for councils and sacred rituals.

The subsistence patterns of this period differ from those of the preceding one in their emphasis on the cultivation of maize, squash, and beans. There is evidence for the keeping and possible domestication of turkeys, which would have replaced meat from hunting activities as the latter became less frequent. Bows and arrows, indicated by the use of basal-notched projectile points, replaced atlatls as the favored hunting weapon. The technology for food processing was modified by the introduction of two-handed manos and an increase in the use of trough-shaped over slab metates. The crafts of twined woven bags, nets, sandals, and coiled basketry continued, but Basketmaker III peoples also made and used pottery containers. The most common vessels were jars and bowls of a plain gray ware, although vessels decorated with simple black designs on a white base also appear during this period. In southeastern Utah, orange pottery with red designs appears toward the end of this period. The adoption of pottery use and changes in ground stone tools have been interpreted as signalling an intensification in household labor that accompanied village sedentism and an increased reliance on agricultural products.

Bibliography

Glashow, Michael. “Changes in the Adaptations of Southwestern Basketmakers: A Systems Perspective.” In Contemporary Archaeology, edited by Mark P. Leone. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1972.

Guernsey, Samuel J., and Alfred V. Kidder. “Basket-maker Caves of Northeastern Arizona.” In Papers of the Peabody Museum in American Archaeology and Ethnology. Vol. 8, No. 2. Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, 1921.

Martin, Paul S. “The Hay Hollow Site, 200 B.C.-A.D. 200.” Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin 38, no. 5 (1967): 6-10.

Morris, Earl H., and Robert F. Burgh. Basket Maker II Sites near Durango, Colorado. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 604. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1954.

Rohn, Arthur H. “A Stockaded Basketmaker III Village at Yellow Jacket, Colorado.” The Kiva 40, no. 3 (1963): 113-119.