The Late Basketmaker II Era (AD 50 to 500) was a cultural period of Ancient Pueblo People when people began living in pit-houses , raised maize and squash , and were proficient basket makers and weavers. They also hunted game and gathered wild foods, such as pinyon nuts .
15-579: The Early and Late Basketmaker II Eras ( Pecos Classification ) are often described as one "Basketmaker period". It is preceded by the Early Basketmaker II Era , and is followed by the Basketmaker III Era . The primary dwellings of this era were round or circular pit-houses that were built on open land and partially below the ground surface. The entrance to the house faced east or south. Logs and rocks were often used for
30-604: A Basketmaker I Period which was subsequently discredited due to lack of physical evidence. It was combined with the Archaic Period . This period was called Oshara tradition . There was a trend toward a sedentary lifestyle, with small-scale cultivation of plants beginning 1000 BC. The early Ancestral Pueblo camped in the open or lived in caves seasonally. During this period, they began to cultivate gardens of maize ( flint corn in particular) and squash , but no beans . They used manos and metates to grind corn, and
45-440: A plaza . Socially, this was a period of more conflict than cooperation, which is thought to have led to abandonment of settlements at Mesa Verde. The people began making kachinas for religious and ritual purposes. Plain pottery supplants corrugated. Red, orange and yellow pottery is on the rise as the black-on-white declines. Cotton is introduced and grown as a commodity. The Puebloans are joined by other cultures. As early as
60-597: Is a chronological division of all known Ancestral Puebloans into periods based on changes in architecture , art , pottery , and cultural remains . The original classification dates back to consensus reached at a 1927 archæological conference held in Pecos, New Mexico , which was organized by the United States archaeologist Alfred V. Kidder . The original Pecos Classification contained eight stages of Southwestern prehistory, but it did not specify dates. Although
75-521: Is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead . In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb . Examples occur across Europe and in the Middle East. A cist may have formerly been associated with other monuments, perhaps under a cairn or a long barrow . Several cists are sometimes found close together within the same cairn or barrow. Often ornaments have been found within an excavated cist, indicating
90-646: The 12th century, populations began to grow after a decline at the end of the Pueblo II Period . More intense agriculture was characteristic, with terracing and irrigation common. Settlements consist of large pueblos, cliff dwellings, towers and turkey pens. Most villages in the Four Corners area are abandoned by AD 1300. The distinction between the Hohokam and Ancient Pueblo people becomes blurred. Typically, large pueblos are centered around
105-672: The 15th century, the Navajo were in the process of migrating into the region from the north. In the next century, the Spanish colonists first came in the 1540s from the south. The Spanish dominate and take over sites such as the Acoma Pueblo . Their arrival sends Pueblo subcultures underground. Cist In archeology , a cist ( / ˈ k ɪ s t / ; also kist / ˈ k ɪ s t / ; from ‹See Tfd› Greek : κίστη , Middle Welsh Kist or Germanic Kiste ) or cist grave
120-508: The Basketmakers' diet was rich in maize. Manos and metates were used to grind maize and other foods. Food was stored below ground in storage cists, often lined with slabs of stone. Excavated items from this period include: About AD 200, the middle of this period, there was some experimentation with a crude form of brown pottery. The cultural groups of this period include: Pecos Classification The Pecos Classification
135-615: The atlatl and spear. Plain bisque and some painted black-on-white pottery is made. Cultivation begins of beans, available due to trade from Central America, and edible due to slow cooking in pottery vessels. Wild amaranth and pinyon pine were also staples. People of this period may have domesticated turkeys . The prototype kivas were large, round, and subterranean. The Pueblo I Period saw increasing populations, growing village size, social integration, and more complicated and complex agricultural systems typified this Period. The construction and year-round occupation of pueblos begins;
150-594: The dwellings foundation. The building materials for the walls could include stacked logs, jacal or poles and brush. In the center of the dwelling was a fire pit . Some early people built their dwellings within the natural protection of rock shelters , especially during the beginning of this period. The Basketmaker II people raised maize and squash , the first people of the northern American southwest to do so, which required them to be located near sources of water and good soil. Carbon isotope analysis of bones of Archaic people compared to Basketmakers indicates that
165-491: The modern-day Southwestern United States after the big game hunters departed are called Archaic . Little evidence for extensive habitation before 8000 BC exists. From evidence near Navajo Mountain , they were nomadic people , hunter-gatherers traveling in small bands. They gathered wild foods when in season , and hunted with stone-tipped spears, atlatls , and darts . Game included rabbits , deer , antelope , and bighorn sheep . The original classification postulated
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#1732773136004180-693: The original classification has been significantly debated and sometimes modified over the years, the split into Basketmaker and Pueblo period still serves as a basis for discussing the culture of the Ancestral Puebloans of the Four Corners area. The following classification is based in part of the Revised Pecos Classification for the Mesa Verde Region. The pre-Ancestral Pueblo culture that moved into
195-410: The people constructed reservoirs and canals to deal with scarce and irregular water resources. Large villages and great kivas appear, though pithouses still remain in use. Above-ground construction is of jacal or crude masonry . Plain gray bisque predominates in pottery, though some red bisque and pottery decorated in black and white appears. By AD 1050, Chaco Canyon (in present-day New Mexico )
210-530: The women made baskets for numerous uses. The people constructed primitive storage bins, cists , and shallow pit-houses . At this stage, evidence suggests that the beginning of a religious and decision-making structure had already developed. Shamanistic cults existed, and petroglyphs and other rock art indicate a ceremonial structure as well. Groups appear to be increasingly linked into larger-scale decision-making bodies. Deep pithouses were developed, along with some above-ground rooms. The bow and arrow replace
225-645: Was a major regional center, with a population of 1,500–5,000 people. It is surrounded by standardized planned towns, or great houses , built from the wood of more than 200,000 trees. Thirty-foot-wide (9.1 m) roads , flanked by berms , radiate from Chaco in various directions. Small blocks of above-ground masonry rooms and a kiva make up a typical pueblo . Great kivas were up to 50–70 feet (15–21 m) in diameter. Pottery consists of corrugated gray bisque and decorated black-on-white in addition to some decorated red and orange vessels. The people imported shells and turquoise from other cultures through trading. During
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