Native American prehistory—Southwest

Date: c. 10,000 b.c.e.-c. 1540 c.e.

Location: New Mexico, Arizona, southern Utah, southern Colorado

Cultures affected: Anasazi, Hohokam, Mogollon

Archaeologists have determined that the first people in the Southwest were nomadic hunting and gathering peoples who drifted into the region in small groups in the late Pleistocene period. These people, known in archaeological literature as the Cochise, had minimal tools and equipment, although some of their stone implements were expertly flaked into beautiful spear points and knives. There are several different groups of these “early man points,” which are identified by the localities where they were first discovered: Folsom (prehistoric site), Sandia, and Clovis.

Near the pueblo of Santa Ana, evidence has been found of a semipermanent camping ground dating back to the Cochise culture. Apparently, game was abundant in this area and water was available from several springs. Artifacts found here include a number of stone tools such as knives, scrapers, drills, choppers, points, and grinding implements. These grinding tools, which indicate that the Cochise supplemented their meat diet with seeds and wild grains, consisted of a large, irregular stone with a shallow, concave area in which seeds or grains were placed and a smaller, rounded stone with which the grinding was done. These crude grinding stones ultimately developed into the metate-mano combination which allowed the later agriculturists in the region to prepare corn.

Development of Agriculture

Over a period of centuries, the Cochise evolved from a nomadic society into several different cultures that were primarily agricultural and sedentary. The major stimulus for this change was the introduction of corn into the region. Corn had been grown in Mexico since about 7000 b.c.e., and over time new genetic strains more resistant to cold and drought were developed, which made it a viable crop for the Southwest. By about 300 b.c.e., the Cochise had settled down to farming and village life, and by circa 300 c.e., three major agricultural groups had materialized: Hohokam, Mogollon, and Anasazi. All three of these cultures depended on the “sacred triad” of corn, beans, and squash for their subsistence. They practiced simple farming methods, with the digging and planting stick as their principal tool. Agriculture and an accompanying interest in the weather eventually led the three cultures to the development of religious and ceremonial practices by which they hoped to influence nature in their favor.

With the possible exception of the Hohokam, who appeared in southern Arizona along the Gila River in the third century b.c.e., the agriculturalists of the Southwest were indigenous. It was a situation of a people adopting new ideas and developing a new way of life rather than of migrants coming into the area with a new, ready-made culture. Many scholars believe that the Hohokam came from Mexico, although no geographical area of origin has been identified. If, on the other hand, the Hohokam evolved from the Cochise, as did the Mogollon and Anasazi, it is certain that they were an important conduit for influences from the cultures in Mexico to come into the Southwest.

Of the three prehistoric groups, the Mogollon in the mountains of southern New Mexico were the first to cultivate corn and the first to have the bow and arrow, probably having acquired both from cultures in Mexico. The Mogollon were never a cohesive society, perhaps because of the rugged terrain along the Little Colorado River where they lived. Their culture consisted of scattered groups of small villages which, while sharing certain basic traits, were characterized nevertheless by many regional differences.

The Hohokam are generally divided into two main groups: the Desert and the Riverine. The Desert Hohokam, the smaller group, did not settle near streams and so were less successful agriculturally. The Riverine Hohokam built villages along rivers and developed an extensive irrigation system consisting of many miles of canals constructed with rudimentary hand tools. The building of these canals, each of which served several villages, required a high degree of social and political organization as well as effective intercommunity cooperation.

The Anasazi, who lived in the high plateau country of the Four Corners area, apparently acquired corn from the Mogollon. Their first farming methods were extremely crude compared to the other two cultures, but they were such a vigorous, dynamic, and creative people that they soon surpassed their neighbors to the south and were farming the mesa tops as well as the valleys, using irrigation systems of their own design.

Housing

Early in their development, all three prehistoric cultures constructed permanent dwellings known as pit houses. Generally, this was simply a shallow pit dug into the ground, lined with rocks or logs to prevent the sides from collapsing inward, and then covered with a roof made of slim branches and twigs with several inches of mud on top.

The Mogollon pit house was circular, with a single center post to support a conical roof and a short, sloping ramp on one side which served as an entryway. A hole in the center of the roof provided a vent for the fire pit.

The Hohokam pit house was a rectangular hole about 30 feet long with an entire structure built inside it, using the “wattle-and-daub” method, which consisted of small posts set into the ground a few inches apart, interlaced with brush and packed with mud. It was topped by a double-pitched roof and entered by a sloping ramp on one side.

Although the earliest Anasazi lived in caves, by circa 500 c.e. they had developed a circular pit house, about 5 feet deep and up to 25 feet in diameter. The structure had a flat roof, with entry by ladder through the smoke hole. By circa 700, the Anasazi had developed stone architecture and were building aboveground pueblos. As their culture spread through the Southwest, they gradually absorbed most of the other two groups.

Crafts

One of the benefits that results from social organization and specialization is leisure time that can be devoted to the development of arts and crafts. As the Mogollon, Hohokam, and Anasazi began to make utilitarian objects such as pottery, baskets, sandals, robes, and mats, they decorated them according to their own rapidly developing aesthetic tastes. From the beginning, all three groups made jewelry from shells, bone, and minerals such as turquoise. A careful study of all these things reveals the emergence of a rich artistic tradition which was related to other aspects of these prehistoric cultures and which constitutes the artistic heritage of the modern Puebloan artist.

Bibliography

Amsden, Charles A. Prehistoric Southwesterners from Basketmaker to Pueblo. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum, 1949.

Cordell, Linda S. Prehistory of the Southwest. Orlando, Fla.: Academic Press, 1984.

Cummings, Byron. The First Inhabitants of Arizona and the Southwest. Tucson, Ariz.: Cummings Publication Council, 1953.

Gummerman, George J., ed. Exploring the Hohokam: Prehistoric Desert Peoples of the American Southwest. Dragoon, Ariz.: Amerind Foundation, 1991.

Muench, David. Anasazi, Ancient People of the Rock. Palo Alto, Calif.: American West, 1975.

Noble, David G., ed. The Hohokam: Ancient People of the Desert. Santa Fe, N.Mex.: School of American Research Press, 1991.