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133-598: Mesa Verde National Park is a national park of the United States and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado , and the only World Heritage Site in Colorado. The park protects some of the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan ancestral sites in the United States. Established by Congress and President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, the park occupies 52,485 acres (212 km) near

266-966: A "deep significance" that is not always understandable to modern scholars. In many instances, the creation of rock art was itself a ritual act. In the Upper Palaeolithic of Europe, rock art was produced inside cave systems by the hunter-gatherer peoples who inhabited the continent. The oldest known example is the Chauvet Cave in France, although others have been located, including Lascaux in France, Alta Mira in Spain and Creswell Crags in Britain and Grotta del Genovese in Sicily . The late prehistoric rock art of Europe has been divided into three regions by archaeologists. In Atlantic Europe ,

399-531: A "sedentary and communal way of life changed ancestral Pueblo society forever". Within a generation the average number of households in these settlements grew from 1-3 to 15-20, with average populations of two hundred people. Population density increased dramatically, with as many as a dozen families occupying roughly the same space that had formerly housed two. This brought increased security against raids and encouraged greater cooperation amongst residents. It also facilitated trade and intermarriage between clans, and by

532-438: A Yucca-leaf brush and paints made from iron, manganese , beeplant , and tansy mustard. Most of the pottery found in 9th century pueblos was sized for individuals or small families, but as communal ceremonialism expanded during the 13th century, many larger, feast–sized vessels were produced. Corrugated decorations appear on Mesa Verde grey wares after 700, and by 1000 entire vessels were crafted in this way. The technique created

665-627: A brief boil, but because beans must be boiled for an hour or more their use was not widespread until after pottery had disseminated throughout the region. With the increased availability of ceramics after 600, beans became much easier to cook. This provided a high quality protein that reduced reliance on hunting. It also aided corn cultivation, as legumes add much needed nutrients to soils they are grown in, which likely increased corn yields. Most Pueblo people practiced dry farming , which relied on rain to water their crops, but others utilized runoff, springs, seeps , and natural collection pools. Starting in

798-868: A centralized plan for the system. In 2004, the American Society of Civil Engineers designated these four structures as National Civil Engineering Historic Landmarks . A 2014 geospatial analyses suggested that neither collection nor retention of water was possible in the Far View Reservoir. This interpretation views the structure as a ceremonial space with procession roads in an adaptation of Chacoan culture. Puebloans typically harvested local small game, but sometimes organized hunting parties that traveled long distances. Their main sources of animal protein came from mule deer and rabbits, but they occasionally hunted Bighorn sheep, antelope, and elk. They began to domesticate turkeys starting around 1000, and by

931-492: A cliff, rather than a detached piece of stone. They are a category of rock art, and sometimes found in conjunction with rock-cut architecture . However, they tend to be omitted in most works on rock art, which concentrate on engravings and paintings by prehistoric peoples. A few such works exploit the natural contours of the rock and use them to define an image, but they do not amount to man-made reliefs. Rock reliefs have been made in many cultures, and were especially important in

1064-485: A combination of the two techniques. Parietal art is found very widely throughout the world, and in many places new examples are being discovered. The defining characteristic of rock art is that it is placed on natural rock surfaces; in this way, it is distinct from artworks placed on constructed walls or free-standing sculpture. As such, rock art is a form of landscape art, and includes designs that have been placed on boulder and cliff faces, cave walls, and ceilings, and on

1197-429: A composition analysis, which most of these figurines are made of steatite but there are still made of other materials. As a result from these archaeological studies, these figures provided context about spheres of interaction between tribal groups, demonstrate economical significance, and possibly hold a ritual function as well. Under one study by archaeologists Richard T Fitzgerald and Christopher Corey, they dated

1330-712: A design being painted onto the hand, which is then in turn added to the surface. The third involves the hand first being placed against the panel, with dry paint then being blown onto it through a tube, in a process that is akin to air-brush or spray-painting. The resulting image is a negative print of the hand, and is sometimes described as a " stencil " in Australian archaeology. Miniature stencilled art has been found at two locations in Australia and one in Indonesia . Petroglyphs are engravings or carvings into rock which

1463-475: A destination, and hunting and extractive activities are prohibited. National monuments , on the other hand, are also frequently protected for their historical or archaeological significance. Eight national parks (including six in Alaska ) are paired with a national preserve , areas with different levels of protection that are administered together but considered separate units and whose areas are not included in

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1596-550: A dramatic reversal of settlement trends in the area. Many late Pueblo I villages were abandoned after less than forty years of occupation, and by 880 Mesa Verde's population was in steady decline. The beginning of the 10th century saw widespread depopulation of the region, as people emigrated south of the San Juan River to Chaco Canyon in search of reliable rains for farming. As Pueblo people migrated south, to where many of their ancestors had emigrated two hundred years before,

1729-451: A family of three or four individuals for one year, providing they supplemented with game and wild plants. As Puebloans increasingly relied on corn as a dietary staple, the success or failure of crop yields factored heavily into their lives. The mesa tilts slightly to the south, which increased its exposure to the sun. Before the introduction of pottery, foods were baked, roasted, and parched. Hot rocks dropped into containers could bring water to

1862-399: A far better chance of surviving for very long periods, and what now survives may represent only a very small proportion of what was created. Both parietal and cave art refer to cave paintings , drawings, etchings, carvings, and pecked artwork on the interior of caves and rock shelters. Generally, these either are engraved (essentially meaning scratched) or painted, or, they are created using

1995-480: A far denser concentration of their populations. Mug House, a typical cliff dwelling of the period, was home to around 100 people who shared 94 small rooms and eight kivas built against each other and sharing many of their walls; builders in these areas maximized space in any way they could, with no areas considered off-limits to construction. The Pueblo people used astronomical observations to plan their farming and religious ceremonies, drawing on both natural features in

2128-545: A feature from earlier times called a sipapu , which is a hole dug in the north of the chamber and symbolizes the Ancestral Puebloan's place of emergence from the underworld. At this time, Ancestral Pueblo people began to move away from the post and mud jacal -style buildings that marked the Pueblo I Period toward masonry construction, which had been utilized in the region as early as 700, but was not widespread until

2261-478: A high-oxygen environment. Rock art is found throughout the Mesa Verde region, but its dispersion is uneven and periodic. Some locations have numerous examples; others have none, and some periods saw prolific creation, while others saw little. Styles also vary over time. Examples are relatively rare on Mesa Verde proper, but abundant in the middle San Juan River area, which might indicate the river's importance as

2394-569: A part of the tourist industry. In most climates, only paintings in sheltered sites, in particular caves, have survived for any length of time. Therefore, these are usually called "cave paintings", although many do survive in "rock-shelters" or cliff-faces under an overhang. In prehistoric times, these were often popular places for various human purposes, providing some shelter from the weather, as well as light. There may have been many more paintings in more exposed sites, that are now lost. Pictographs are paintings or drawings that have been placed onto

2527-841: A rough exterior surface that was easier to hold on to than regular gray wares, which were smooth. By the 11th century these corrugated vessels, which dissipated heat more efficiently than smoother ones, had largely replaced the older style, whose tendency to retain heat made them prone to boiling over. Corrugation likely developed as ancient potters attempted to mimic the visual properties of coiled basketry. Corrugated wares were made using clay from formations other than Menefee, which suggests that ancient potters selected different clays for different styles. Potters also selected clays and altered firing conditions to achieve specific colors. Under normal conditions, pots made of Mancos shale turned grey when fired, and those made of Morrison Formation clay turned white. Clays from southeastern Utah turned red when fired in

2660-539: A small stone axe. Others were scalped , dismembered, and cannibalized. The anthropophagy (cannibalism) might have been undertaken as a survival strategy during times of starvation. The archaeological record indicates that, rather than being isolated to the Mesa Verde region, violent conflict was widespread in North America during the late 13th and early 14th centuries, and was likely exacerbated by global climate changes that negatively affected food supplies throughout

2793-726: A specific point in time and space (in Rose Valley, Inyo County). Rose Valley is located in the boundaries of the cultural Great Basin and the territory of the Timbisha Shoshone . This site is important to understanding the symbolism and value of North American rock art because it is one of the largest collections of rock art unrelated to the Coso (an indigenous tribe/people of the Mojave Desert ). Its importance to territorial and anthropological studies helps many understand

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2926-483: A travel route and key source of water. Common motifs in the rock art of the region include anthropomorphic figures in procession and during copulation or childbirth, handprints, animal and people tracks, wavy lines, spirals, concentric circles, animals, and hunting scenes. As the region's population plummeted during the late 13th century, the subject of Pueblonian rock art increasingly shifted to depictions of shields, warriors, and battle scenes. Modern Hopi have interpreted

3059-570: A wider variety of plants and animals than the Paleo-Indians had while retaining their primarily nomadic lifestyle. They inhabited the outlying areas of the Mesa Verde region, but also the mountains, mesa tops, and canyons, where they created rock shelters and rock art , and left evidence of animal processing and chert knapping . Environmental stability during the period drove population expansion and migration. Major warming and drying from 5000 to 2500 might have led middle Archaic people to seek

3192-540: Is Gateway Arch National Park , Missouri , at 192.83 acres (0.7804 km ). The total area protected by national parks is approximately 52.4 million acres (212,000 km ), for an average of 833 thousand acres (3,370 km ) but a median of only 220 thousand acres (890 km ). The national parks set a visitation record in 2021, with more than 92 million visitors. Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee has been

3325-548: Is a charcoal drawing on a rock fragment found during the excavation of the Nawarla Gabarnmang rock shelter in south western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory . Dated at 28,000 years, it is one of the oldest known pieces of rock art on Earth with a confirmed date. Nawarla Gabarnmang has one of the most extensive collections of rock art in the world and predates both Lascaux and Chauvet cave art -

3458-443: Is a term for art in caves ; this definition usually extended to art in rock shelters under cliff overhangs. Popularly, it is called "cave art", and is a subset of the wider term, rock art. It is mostly on rock walls, but may be on ceilings and floors. A wide variety of techniques have been used in its creation. The term usually is applied only to prehistoric art , but it may be used for art of any date. Sheltered parietal art has had

3591-407: Is bimodal, meaning agriculture is sustained through snowfall during winter and autumn and rainfall during spring and summer. Water for farming and consumption was provided by summer rains, winter snowfall, and seeps and springs in and near the Mesa Verde villages. At 7,000 feet (2,100 m), the middle mesa areas were typically ten degrees Fahrenheit (5 °C) cooler than the mesa top, which reduced

3724-472: Is crucial to focus on the variable resources to understand how cultures were abiding with their environment. However, the rock art related sites at Little Rock can't be directly dated or analyzed. Australian Indigenous art represents the oldest unbroken tradition of art in the world. There are more than 100,000 recorded rock art sites in Australia . The oldest firmly dated rock-art painting in Australia

3857-400: Is left in situ . They can be created with a range of scratching, engraving or carving techniques, often with the use of a hard hammerstone , which is battered against the stone surface. In certain societies, the choice of hammerstone itself has religious significance. In other instances, the rock art is pecked out through indirect percussion, as a second rock is used like a chisel between

3990-417: Is little indication that they lived in central Mesa Verde during this time. After 9600 BC, the area's environment grew warmer and drier, a change that brought to central Mesa Verde pine forests and the animals that thrive in them. Paleo-Indians began inhabiting the mesa in increasing numbers c.  7500 BC , though it is unclear whether they were seasonal occupants or year-round residents. Development of

4123-542: Is marked by increased trade in exotic materials such as obsidian and turquoise . Marine shells and abalone from the Pacific coast made their way to Mesa Verde from Arizona, and the Archaic people worked them into necklaces and pendants. Rock art flourished, and people lived in rudimentary houses made of mud and wood. Their early attempts at plant domestication eventually developed into the sustained agriculture that marked

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4256-538: Is most common, but reliefs on essentially horizontal surfaces are also found. The term typically excludes relief carvings inside caves , whether natural or themselves man-made, which are especially found in India. Natural rock formations made into statues or other sculpture in the round, most famously at the Great Sphinx of Giza , are also usually excluded. Reliefs on large boulders left in their natural location, like

4389-570: Is under study in Colombia , South America at Serranía de la Lindosa was revealed in November 2020. Their age is suggested as being 12,500 years old (c. 10,480 B.C.) by the anthropologists working on the site because of extinct fauna depicted. Rock paintings or pictographs are located in many areas across Canada. There are over 400 sites attributed to the Ojibway from northern Saskatchewan to

4522-635: The "push" factors that drove the Puebloans away from the region, there were also several environmental "pull factors", such as warmer temperatures, better farming conditions, plentiful timber, and bison herds, which incentivized relocation to the area near the Rio Grande. In addition to numerous settlements along the Rio Grande, contemporary descendants of the Puebloans live in pueblos at Acoma , Zuni , Jemez , and Laguna . Although Chaco Canyon might have exerted regional control over Mesa Verde during

4655-489: The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center during the 1990s. The assaults, which also occurred at the national monument's Castle Rock Pueblo, were dated to c.  1280 , and are considered to have effectively ended several centuries of Puebloan occupation at those sites. Many of the victims showed signs of skull fractures, and the uniformity of the injuries suggest that most were inflicted with

4788-543: The Four Corners region of the American Southwest . With more than 5,000 sites, including 600 cliff dwellings , it is the largest archaeological preserve in the United States. Mesa Verde (Spanish for "green table", or more specifically "green table mountain") is best known for structures such as Cliff Palace , one of the largest cliff dwellings in North America. Starting c.  7500 BC Mesa Verde

4921-605: The Köppen climate classification system, Mesa Verde National Park has a dry-summer humid continental climate ( Dsa ). According to the United States Department of Agriculture , the Plant Hardiness zone at Mesa Verde National Park Headquarters at 6952 ft (2119 m) elevation is 6b with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of −0.1 °F (−17.8 °C). The region's precipitation pattern

5054-700: The National Park Service , an agency of the Department of the Interior . National parks are designated for their natural beauty, unique geological features, diverse ecosystems, and recreational opportunities, typically "because of some outstanding scenic feature or natural phenomena." While legislatively all units of the National Park System are considered equal with the same mission, national parks are generally larger and more of

5187-761: The Ottawa River . However, cave art is not the only type of rock art. While cave art provides the two-dimensional view on a rocky surface, figurines made of a rock material can provide a three-dimensional view that gives insight on indigenous views towards their visual arts. Many sites along and off the California coastline, such as the Channel Islands and Malibu , have both realistic and abstract styles of zoomorphic effigy figurines. From archaeological studies at these sites, archaeologists and other researchers discovered many of these figurines and performed

5320-625: The Upper Palaeolithic period, having been found in Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa. Anthropologists studying these artworks believe that they likely had magico-religious significance. The archaeological sub-discipline of rock art studies first developed in the late-19th century among Francophone scholars studying the rock art of the Upper Palaeolithic found in the cave systems of parts of Western Europe. Rock art continues to be of importance to indigenous peoples in various parts of

5453-657: The atlatl during this period made it easier for them to hunt smaller game, a crucial advance at a time when most of the region's big game had disappeared from the landscape. 6000 BC marks the beginning of the Archaic period in North America . Archaeologists differ as to the origin of the Mesa Verde Archaic population; some believe they developed exclusively from local Paleo-Indians, called the Foothills Mountain Complex, but others suggest that

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5586-581: The megafauna may have persisted later in refugia (wetter areas of the continent) as suggested by Wells (1985: 228) and has suggested a much younger age for the paintings. Pigments from the Gwion Gwion of the Kimberley are so old they have become part of the rock itself, making carbon dating impossible. Some experts suggest that these paintings are in the vicinity of 50,000 years old and may even pre-date Aboriginal settlement. Miniature rock art of

5719-643: The petroglyphs at Mesa Verde's Petroglyph Point as depictions of various clans of people. Starting during the late Pueblo II period (1020) and continuing through Pueblo III (1300), the Ancestral Puebloans of the Mesa Verde region created plaster murals in their great houses, particularly in their kivas. The murals contained both painted and inscribed images depicting animals, people, and designs used in textiles and pottery dating back as far as Basketmaker III, c.  500 . Others depict triangles and mounds thought to represent mountains and hills in

5852-506: The stencilled variety at a rock shelter known as Yilbilinji, in the Limmen National Park in the Northern Territory , is one of only three known examples of such art. Usually stencilled art is life-size, using body parts as the stencil, but the 17 images of designs of human figures, boomerangs , animals such as crabs and long-necked turtles , wavy lines and geometric shapes are very rare. Found in 2017 by archaeologists ,

5985-602: The territories of American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands . The state with the most national parks is California with nine, followed by Alaska with eight, Utah with five, and Colorado with four. The largest national park is Wrangell–St. Elias in Alaska: at over 8 million acres (32,375 km ), it is larger than each of the nine smallest states . The next three largest parks are also in Alaska. The smallest park

6118-411: The "Great Drought", leading to intense warfare between competing clans. Increasing economic and social uncertainty during the century's final decades led to widespread conflict. Evidence of partly burned villages and post-mortem trauma have been uncovered, and the residents of one village appear to have been the victims of a site-wide massacre. Evidence of violence and cannibalism has been documented in

6251-409: The 11th and 12th centuries. The expansion of Chacoan influence in the Mesa Verde area left its most visible mark in the form of Chaco-style masonry great houses that became the focal point of many Puebloan villages after 1075. Far View House, the largest of these, is considered a classic Chaco "outlier," on which construction likely began between 1075 and 1125, although some archaeologists argue that it

6384-480: The 12th century drought. At the start of the 13th century, approximately 22,000 people lived there. The area saw moderate population increases during the following decades, and dramatic ones from 1225 to 1260. Most of the people in the region lived in the plains west of the mesa at locations such as Yellow Jacket Pueblo , near Cortez, Colorado. Others colonized canyon rims and slopes in multi-family structures that grew to unprecedented size as populations swelled. By 1260,

6517-537: The 13th century consumption of the animal peaked, supplanting deer as the primary protein source at many sites. These domesticated turkeys consumed large amounts of corn, which further deepened reliance on the staple crop. Puebloans wove blankets from turkey feathers and rabbit fur, and made implements such as awls and needles from turkey and deer bones. Despite the availability of fish in the area's rivers and streams, archaeological evidence suggests that they were rarely eaten. Puebloans supplemented their diet by gathering

6650-470: The 9th century Puebloan pueblos influenced two hundred years of Chacoan great house construction. Droughts during the late 9th century rendered Ancestral Pueblo people's dry land farming unreliable, which led to their growing crops only near drainages for the next 150 years. Crop yields returned to healthy levels by the early 11th century. By 1050 the population of the area began to rebound; as agricultural prosperity increased, people immigrated to Mesa Verde from

6783-417: The 9th century, they dug and maintained reservoirs that caught runoff from summer showers and spring snowmelt; some crops were watered by hand. Archaeologists believe that prior to the 13th century, springs and other sources of water were considered shared public resources, but as the Pueblo moved into increasingly larger pueblos built near or around water supplies control was privatized and limited to members of

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6916-607: The Americas is known as the "Horny Little Man". It is petroglyph depicting a stick figure with an oversized phallus and carved in Lapa do Santo , a cave in central-eastern Brazil. The most important site is Serra da Capivara National Park at Piauí state. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the largest collection in the American continent and one of the most studied. A site including eight miles of paintings or pictographs that

7049-585: The Ancestral Puebloans considered all material consumed and discarded by their communities as sacred, their midden piles were viewed with reverence. Starting during the Basketmaker III period, c.  700 , Puebloans often buried their dead in these mounds. Scholars are divided as to whether pottery was invented in the Four Corners region or introduced from the south. Specimens of shallow, unfired clay bowls found at Canyon de Chelly indicate

7182-479: The Chacoan system. Other researchers see these elements as part of a more generalized Puebloan style or spiritual significance rather than evidence of a continuing specific elite socioeconomic system. While much of the construction in these sites is consistent with common Pueblo architectural forms, including kivas, towers, and pit-houses , the space constrictions of these alcoves necessitated what seems to have been

7315-457: The Hittite İmamkullu relief , are likely to be included, but smaller boulders may be called stelae or carved orthostats . Earth figures are large designs and motifs that are created on the stone ground surface. They can be classified through their method of manufacture. Intaglios are created by scraping away the desert pavements (pebbles covering the ground) to reveal a negative image on

7448-608: The National Park Service "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Many current national parks had been previously protected as national monuments by the president under the Antiquities Act or as other designations created by Congress before being redesignated by Congress;

7581-531: The Puebloan had relied on, further deepening their dependency on domesticated crops that were susceptible to drought-related failure. A recent study has shown that residents resorted to cannibalism starting in 1150 due to the discovery of disarticulated human remains that were prepared and consumed. The Chacoan system brought large quantities of imported goods to Mesa Verde during the late 11th and early 12th centuries, including pottery, shells, and turquoise, but by

7714-560: The Puebloans who settled in the areas near the Rio Grande, where Mesa Verde black-on-white pottery became widespread during the 14th century, were likely related to the households they joined and not unwelcome intruders. Archaeologists view this migration as a continuation, versus a dissolution, of Ancestral Puebloan society and culture. Many others relocated to the banks of the Little Colorado River , in western New Mexico and eastern Arizona. While archaeologists tend to focus on

7847-679: The San Juan Basin, particularly at Chaco Canyon. As the extensive Chacoan system collapsed, people increasingly migrated to Mesa Verde, causing major population growth in the area. This led to much larger settlements of six to eight hundred people, which reduced mobility for Puebloan, who had in the past frequently relocated their dwellings and fields as part of their agriculture strategy. In order to sustain these larger populations, they dedicated more and more of their labor to farming. Population increases also led to expanded tree felling that reduced habitat for many wild plant and animal species that

7980-1198: The absence of earthen pottery. By 300, corn had become the preeminent staple of the Basketmaker II people's diet, which relied less and less on wild food sources and more on domesticated crops. In addition to the fine basketry for which they were named, Basketmaker II people fashioned a variety of household items from plant and animal materials, including sandals, robes, pouches, mats, and blankets. They also made clay pipes and gaming pieces. Basketmaker men were relatively short and muscular, averaging less than 5.5 feet (1.7 m) tall. Their skeletal remains reveal signs of hard labor and extensive travel, including degenerative joint disease, healed fractures, and moderate anemia associated with iron deficiency. They buried their dead near or amongst their settlements, and often included luxury items as gifts, which might indicate differences in relative social status. Basketmaker II people are also known for their distinctive rock art, which can be found throughout Mesa Verde. They depicted animals and people, in both abstract and realistic forms, in single works and more elaborate panels. A common subject

8113-421: The amount of water needed for farming. The cliff dwellings were built to take advantage of solar energy. The angle of the sun in winter warmed the masonry of the cliff dwellings, warm breezes blew from the valley, and the air was 10 to 20 °F (5-10 °C) warmer in the canyon alcoves than on the top of the mesa. In the summer, with the sun high overhead, much of the village was protected from direct sunlight in

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8246-531: The area c.  9500 BC. They followed herds of big game and camped near rivers and streams, many of which dried up as the glaciers that once covered parts of the San Juan Mountains receded. The earliest Paleo-Indians were the Clovis culture and Folsom tradition , defined largely by how they fashioned projectile points . Although they left evidence of their presence throughout the region, there

8379-523: The art of the Ancient Near East . Rock reliefs are generally fairly large, as they need to be to make an impact in the open air. Most have figures that are over life-size, and in many the figures are multiples of life-size. Stylistically they normally relate to other types of sculpture from the culture and period concerned, and except for Hittite and Persian examples they are generally discussed as part of that wider subject. The vertical relief

8512-421: The band was twice the height of the others, and held in his hand something resembling the whaddie, or wooden sword of the natives of Port Jackson ; and was probably intended to represent a chief. They could not, as with us, indicate superiority by clothing or ornament, since they wore none of any kind; and therefore, with the addition of a weapon, similar to the ancients, they seem to have made superiority of person

8645-539: The bedrock below. The best known example of such intaglio rock art is the Nazca Lines of Peru . In contrast, geoglyphs are positive images, which are created by piling up rocks on the ground surface to resulting in a visible motif or design. Traditionally, individual markings are called motifs and groups of motifs are known as panels . Sequences of panels are treated as archaeological sites . This method of classifying rock art however has become less popular as

8778-510: The black-on-white pottery found at Mesa Verde was produced locally. Cretaceous clays from both the Dakota and Menefee Formations were used in black-on-white wares, and Mancos Formation clays for corrugated jars. Evidence that pottery of both types moved between several locations around the region suggests interaction between groups of ancient potters, or they might have shared a common source of raw materials. The Mesa Verde black-on-white pottery

8911-541: The central Mesa Verde region. While most of the violence, which peaked between 1275 and 1285, is generally ascribed to in-fighting amongst Puebloans, archaeological evidence found at Sand Canyon Pueblo, in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument , suggests that violent interactions also occurred between Puebloans and people from outside the region. Evidence of the attacks was discovered by members of

9044-442: The chasms were deep holes or caverns undermining the cliffs; upon the walls of which I found rude drawings, made with charcoal and something like red paint upon the white ground of the rock. These drawings represented porpoises, turtle, kanguroos [sic], and a human hand; and Mr. Westall, who went afterwards to see them, found the representation of a kanguroo [sic], with a file of thirty-two persons following after it. The third person of

9177-592: The coastal seaboard on the west of the continent, which stretches from Iberia up through France and encompasses the British Isles, a variety of different rock arts were produced from the Neolithic through to the Late Bronze Age . A second area of the continent to contain a significant rock art tradition was that of Alpine Europe , with the majority of artworks being clustered in the southern slopes of

9310-501: The continent. The Mesa Verde region saw unusually cold and dry conditions during the beginning of the 13th century. This might have driven emigration to Mesa Verde from less hospitable locations. The added population stressed the mesa's environment, further straining an agricultural society that was suffering from drought. The region's bimodal precipitation pattern, which brought rainfall during spring and summer and snowfall during autumn and winter, began to fail post-1250. After 1260, there

9443-420: The cooler climate of Mesa Verde, whose higher elevation brought increased snowpack that, when coupled with spring rains, provided relatively plentiful amounts of water. By the late Archaic, more people were living in semi-permanent rock shelters that preserved perishable goods such as baskets, sandals, and mats. They started to make a variety of twig figurines that usually resembled sheep or deer. The late Archaic

9576-463: The cycles of both the sun and the moon. It is aligned to the major lunar standstill , which occurs once every 18.6 years, and the sunset during the winter solstice , which can be viewed setting over the temple from a platform at the south end of Cliff Palace, across Fewkes Canyon. At the bottom of the canyon is the Sun Temple fire pit, which is illuminated by the first rays of the rising sun during

9709-470: The earliest figurines to be around the Middle Holocene, suggesting two socioeconomic interactive spheres (one in the northern and one in the southern Channel Islands) and linguistic similarities between Takic-speaking Gabrileno and Chumash neighbors. These figurines share similar styles between these tribes, providing a history of interactive contact. Little Lake is a complex of rock art located in

9842-547: The earliest known art in Europe - by at least 10,000 years. In 2008 rock art depicting what is thought to be a Thylacoleo was discovered on the north-western coast of the Kimberley . As the Thylacoleo is believed to have become extinct 45000–46000 years ago (Roberts et al. 2001) (Gillespie 2004), this suggests a similar age for the associated Gwion Gwion rock paintings . Archaeologist Kim Akerman however believes that

9975-578: The end of the Archaic period, c.  1000 . With the introduction of corn to the Mesa Verde region c.  1000 BC and the trend away from nomadism toward permanent pithouse settlements, the Archaic Puebloan transitioned into what archaeologists call the Basketmaker culture . Basketmaker II people are characterized by their combination of foraging and farming skills, use of the atlatl , and creation of finely woven baskets in

10108-574: The end of the Basketmaker III Era and the beginning of the Pueblo I period. The transition is characterized by major changes in the design and construction of buildings and the organization of household activities. Pueblo I people doubled their capacity for food storage from one year to two and built interconnected, year-round residences called pueblos . Many household activities that had previously been reserved for subterranean pit-houses were moved to these above-ground dwellings. This altered

10241-404: The event of resource depletion or consistently inadequate crop yields. By the end of the 8th century, the smaller hamlets, which were typically occupied for ten to forty years, had been supplanted by larger ones that saw continuous occupation for as many as two generations. Basketmaker III people established a tradition of holding large ceremonial gatherings near community pit structures. 750 marks

10374-469: The exception of invasive species such as tumbleweed and clover , the flora and fauna in the area have remained relatively consistent for the past 4,000 years. According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S. Potential natural vegetation Types, Mesa Verde National Park has a Juniper / Pinyon ( 23 ) potential vegetation type with a Great Basin montane forest /Southwest Forest ( 4 ) potential vegetation form. Mesa Verde's canyons were created by streams that eroded

10507-552: The figures below. The 431 units of the National Park System can be broadly referred to as national parks, but most have other formal designations. A bill creating the first national park, Yellowstone , was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, followed by Mackinac National Park in 1875 (decommissioned in 1895), and then Rock Creek Park (later merged into National Capital Parks ), Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. The Organic Act of 1916 created

10640-727: The function of pit-houses from all-purpose spaces to ones used primarily for community ceremonies, although they continued to house large extended families, particularly during winter months. During the late 8th century, Pueblo people began building square pit structures that archaeologists call proto kivas . They were typically 3 or 4 feet (0.91 or 1.22 m) deep and 12 to 20 feet (3.7 to 6.1 m) wide. The first pueblos appeared at Mesa Verde sometime after 650; by 850 more than half of Pueblo people lived in them. As local populations grew, Puebloans found it difficult to survive on hunting, foraging, and gardening, which made them increasingly reliant on domesticated corn. This shift from semi-nomadism to

10773-423: The ground surface. Rock art is a global phenomenon, being found in many different regions of the world. There are various forms of rock art. Some archaeologists also consider pits and grooves in the rock known as cupules , or cups or rings , as a form of rock art. Although there are exceptions, the majority of rock art whose creation was recorded by ethnographers had been produced during rituals. As such,

10906-400: The hammerstone and the panel. A third, rarer form of engraving rock art was through incision, or scratching, into the surface of the stone with a lithic flake or metal blade. The motifs produced using this technique are fine-lined and often difficult to see. Normally found in literate cultures, a rock relief or rock-cut relief is a relief sculpture carved on solid or "living rock" such as

11039-700: The hard sandstone that covers the area. This resulted in Mesa Verde National Park elevations ranging from about 6,000 to 8,572 feet (1,829 to 2,613 m), the highest elevation at Park Point. The terrain in the park is now a transition zone between the low desert plateaus and the Rocky Mountains . List of national parks of the United States The United States has 63 national parks , which are congressionally designated protected areas operated by

11172-443: The high cliff dwellings. Anthropogenic ecology refers to the human impact on animals and plants in an ecosystem. A shift from medium and large game animals, such as deer, bighorn sheep, and antelope, to smaller ones like rabbits and turkey during the mid-10th to mid-13th centuries might indicate that Pueblonian subsistence hunting had dramatically altered faunal populations on the mesa. Analysis of pack rat midden indicates that, with

11305-400: The in-depth descriptions and stylistic analyses of large rock art concentrations, which are valued by archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnographers, and even art enthusiasts. Referring back to these sites help social scientists understand and record the values that were important to the creators; it shows economic values or settlement patterns that were once a daily part of life. As a result, it

11438-729: The individual topography of different alcoves along the canyon walls. In marked contrast to earlier constructions and villages on top of the mesas, the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde reflected a region-wide trend towards the aggregation of growing regional populations into close, highly defensible quarters during the 13th century. Pueblo buildings were built with stone, windows facing south, and in U, E and L shapes. The buildings were located more closely together and reflected deepening religious celebration. Towers were built near kivas and likely used for lookouts. Pottery became more versatile, including pitchers, ladles, bowls, jars and dishware for food and drink. White pottery with black designs emerged,

11571-443: The influence of Chaco Canyon grew, and by 950 Chaco had supplanted Mesa Verde as the region's cultural center. The Pueblo II Period is marked by the growth and outreach of communities centered around the great houses of Chaco Canyon. Despite their participation in the vast Chacoan system, Puebloan retained a distinct cultural identity while melding regional innovation with ancient tradition, inspiring further architectural advancements;

11704-465: The innovation might have been derived from using clay bowls to parch seeds. Repeated uses rendered these bowls hard and impervious to water, which might represent the first fired pottery in the region. An alternate theory suggests that pottery originated in the Mogollon Rim area to the south, where brown-paste bowls were used during the first few centuries of the common era . Others believe pottery

11837-404: The island's rock shelters, Flinders discovered an array of painted and stenciled patterns. To record these images, he enlisted the ship's artist, William Westall . Westall's two watercolour sketches are the earliest known documentation of Australian rock art. In his journal, Flinders not only detailed the location and the artworks but also authored the inaugural site report: In the deep sides of

11970-482: The landscape and masonry structures built for this purpose. Several great houses in the region were aligned to the cardinal directions , which positioned windows, doors, and walls along the path of the sun, whose rays would indicate the passing of seasons. Mesa Verde's Sun Temple is thought to have been an astronomical observatory. The temple is D-shaped, and its alignment is 10.7 degrees off true east–west. Its location and orientation indicate that its builders understood

12103-454: The last two centuries of Ancestral Puebloan occupation, their overdependence on maize crops is considered the "fatal flaw" of their subsistence strategy. The vacating Ancestral Pueblo people left almost no direct evidence of their migration, but they left behind household goods, including cooking utensils, tools, and clothing, which gave archaeologists the impression that the emigration was haphazard or hurried. An estimated 20,000 people lived in

12236-471: The late 11th and early 12th centuries, most archaeologists view the Mesa Verde region as a collection of smaller communities based on central sites and related outliers that were never fully integrated into a larger civic structure. Several ancient roads, averaging 15 to 45 feet (4.6 to 13.7 m) wide and lined with earthen berms , have been identified in the region. Most appear to connect communities and shrines; others encircle great house sites. The extent of

12369-406: The late 12th century, as the system collapsed, the amount of goods imported by the mesa quickly declined, and Mesa Verde became isolated from the surrounding region. For approximately six hundred years, most Puebloan farmers had lived in small, mesa-top homesteads of one or two families. They were typically located near their fields and walking distance to sources of water. This practice continued into

12502-444: The late 8th century, as Mesa Verde's population was being augmented by settlers from the south, four distinct cultural groups occupied the same villages. Large Pueblo I settlements laid claim to the resources found within 15 to 30 square miles (39 to 78 km). They were typically organized in groups of at least three and spaced about 1 mile (1.6 km) apart. By 860, there were approximately 8,000 people living in Mesa Verde. Within

12635-489: The local Archaic population, and by 750 AD the Ancestral Puebloans had developed from the Basketmaker culture. The Pueblo people survived using a combination of hunting, gathering, and subsistence farming of crops such as corn, beans, and squash (the " Three Sisters "). They built the mesa's first pueblos sometime after 650, and by the end of the 12th century, they began to construct the massive cliff dwellings for which

12768-400: The location of great houses. Mesa Verde is best known for a large number of well-preserved cliff dwellings, houses built in alcoves, or rock overhangs along the canyon walls. The structures contained within these alcoves were mostly blocks of hard sandstone , held together and plastered with adobe mortar. Specific constructions had many similarities but were generally unique in form due to

12901-414: The majority of Puebloans lived in large pueblos that housed several families and more than one hundred people. The 13th century saw 69 years of below average rainfall in the Mesa Verde region, and after 1270 the area suffered from especially cold temperatures. Dendrochronology indicates that the last tree felled for construction on the mesa was cut in 1281. There was a major decline in ceramic imports to

13034-442: The mid- to late 12th century, but by the start of the 13th century they began living in canyon locations that were close to water sources and within walking distance of their fields. Ancestral Pueblo villages thrived during the mid-Pueblo III Era, when architects constructed massive, multi-story buildings, and artisans adorned pottery with increasingly elaborate designs. Structures built during this period have been described as "among

13167-612: The most-visited park since 1944, and had almost 13 million visitors in 2022. In contrast, only about 9,500 people visited the remote Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska in 2022. Download coordinates as: The following table includes the 30 states and two territories that have national parks. Exclusive parks refer to parks entirely within one state or territory. Shared parks refer to parks in multiple states. Territories are set in italics . Rock art The oldest known rock art dates from

13300-639: The mountainous region, in what is now south-eastern France and northern Italy. Cave paintings are found in most parts of Southern Africa that have rock overhangs with smooth surfaces. Among these sites are the cave sandstone of Natal, Orange Free State and North-Eastern Cape, the granite and Waterberg sandstone of the Northern Transvaal, and the Table Mountain sandstone of the Southern and Western Cape. The oldest reliably dated rock art in

13433-490: The network is unclear, but no roads have been discovered leading to the Chacoan Great North Road , or directly connecting Mesa Verde and Chacoan sites. Ancestral Puebloan shrines, called herraduras , have been identified near road segments in the region. Their purpose is unclear, but several C-shaped herraduras have been excavated, and they are thought to have been "directional shrines" used to indicate

13566-472: The newest national park is New River Gorge , previously a National River, and the most recent entirely new park is National Park of American Samoa . A few former national parks are no longer designated as such , or have been disbanded. Fourteen national parks are designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS), and 21 national parks are named UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BR), with eight national parks in both programs. Thirty states have national parks, as do

13699-592: The next 150 years, villages typically consisted of small groups of one to three residences. The population of Mesa Verde c.  675 was approximately 1,000 to 1,500 people. Beans and new varieties of corn were introduced to the region c.  700 . By 775, some settlements had grown to accommodate more than one hundred people; the construction of large, above-ground storage buildings began around this time. Basketmakers endeavored to store enough food for their family for one year, but also retained residential mobility so they could quickly relocate their dwellings in

13832-626: The only other recorded examples are at Nielson's Creek in New South Wales and at Kisar Island in Indonesia. It is thought that the designs may have been created by stencils fashioned out of beeswax . The first European discovery of aboriginal rock paintings took place on 14 January 1803. While on a surveying expedition along the shores and islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria , British navigator and explorer Matthew Flinders made landfall on rugged Chasm Island off Groote Eylandt . Within

13965-502: The origins of art and belief. One of the most significant figures in this movement was the South African archaeologist David Lewis-Williams , who published his studies of San rock art from southern Africa, in which he combined ethnographic data to reveal the original purpose of the artworks. Lewis-Williams would come to be praised for elevating rock art studies to a "theoretically sophisticated research domain" by Whitley. However,

14098-841: The park is best known. By 1285, following a period of social and environmental instability driven by a series of severe and prolonged droughts, they migrated south to locations in Arizona and New Mexico, including the Rio Chama , the Albuquerque Basin , the Pajarito Plateau , and the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains . The first occupants of the Mesa Verde region , which spans from southeastern Utah to northwestern New Mexico, were nomadic Paleo-Indians who arrived in

14231-400: The pigments coming from plants. Water management and conservation techniques, including the use of reservoirs and silt-retaining dams, also emerged during this period. Styles for these sandstone/mortar constructions, both surface and cliff dwellings, included T-shaped windows and doors. This has been taken by some archaeologists, including Stephen H. Lekson, as evidence of the continuing reach of

14364-422: The pigments had been obtained, they would be ground and mixed with a liquid, such as water, blood, urine, or egg yolk, and then applied to the stone as paint using a brush, fingers, or a stamp. Alternately, the pigment could have been applied on dry, such as with a stick of charcoal. In some societies, the paint itself has symbolic and religious meaning; for instance, among hunter-gatherer groups in California, paint

14497-470: The plazas of larger villages, the Pueblo I people dug massive pit structures of 800 square feet (74 m) that became central gathering places. These structures represent early architectural expressions of what would eventually develop into the Pueblo II Era great houses of Chaco Canyon . Despite robust growth during the early and mid-9th century, unpredictable rainfall and periodic drought led to

14630-667: The principal emblem of superior power, of which, indeed, power is usually a consequence in the very early stages of society. In New Zealand, North Otago and South Canterbury have a rich range of early Māori rock art. The archaeological sub-discipline devoted to the investigation of rock art is known as "rock art studies". Rock art specialist David S. Whitley noted that research in this area required an "integrated effort" that brings together archaeological theory , method, fieldwork, analytical techniques and interpretation. Although French archaeologists had undertaken much research into rock art, Anglophone archaeology had largely neglected

14763-412: The region during the 13th century, but by the start of the 14th century the area was nearly uninhabited. Many surviving emigrants may have relocated to southern Arizona and New Mexico. Although the rate of settlement is unclear, increases in sparsely populated areas, such as Rio Chama , Pajarito Plateau , and Santa Fe, correspond directly with the period of migration from Mesa Verde. Archaeologists believe

14896-631: The region during this time, but local production remained steady. Despite challenging conditions, the Puebloans continued to farm the area until a severely dry period from 1276 to 1299 ended seven hundred years of continuous human occupation at Mesa Verde. Archaeologists refer to this period as the "Great Drought". The last inhabitants of the mesa left the area c.  1285 . During the Pueblo III period (1150 to 1300), Puebloans built numerous stone masonry towers that likely served as defensive structures. They often incorporated hidden tunnels connecting

15029-407: The region. Pottery also protected seeds against mold, insects, and rodents. By 600, Ancestral Pueblo People were using clay pots to cook soups and stews. Year-round settlements first appear around this time. The population of the San Juan Basin increased markedly after 575, when there were very few Basketmaker III sites in Mesa Verde; by the early 7th century, there were many such sites in the mesa. For

15162-453: The rock face. Such artworks have typically been made with mineral earths and other natural compounds found across much of the world. The predominantly used colours are red, black and white. Red paint is usually attained through the use of ground ochre , while black paint is typically composed of charcoal , or sometimes from minerals such as manganese . White paint is usually created from natural chalk, kaolinite clay or diatomaceous earth. Once

15295-578: The seeds and fruits of wild plants, searching large expanses of land while procuring these resources. Depending on the season, they collected piñon nuts and juniper berries, weedy goosefoot, pigweed, purslane, tomatillo , tansy mustard , globe mallow , sunflower seeds, and yucca , as well as various species of grass and cacti. Prickly pear fruits provided a rare source of natural sugar. Wild seeds were cooked and ground up into porridge. They used sagebrush and mountain mahogany , along with piñon and juniper, for firewood. They also smoked wild tobacco. Because

15428-582: The south. Pueblonan farmers increasingly relied on masonry reservoirs during the Pueblo II Era. During the 11th century, they built check dams and terraces near drainages and slopes in an effort to conserve soil and runoff. These fields offset the danger of crop failures in the larger dry land fields. By the mid-10th and early 11th centuries, protokivas had evolved into smaller circular structures called kivas, which were usually 12 to 15 feet (3.7 to 4.6 m) across. These Mesa Verde-style kivas included

15561-540: The structure imposed is unlikely to have had any relevance to the art's creators. Even the word 'art' carries with it many modern prejudices about the purpose of the features. Rock art can be found across a wide geographical and temporal spread of cultures perhaps to mark territory, to record historical events or stories or to help enact rituals . Some art seems to depict real events whilst many other examples are apparently entirely abstract. Prehistoric rock depictions were not purely descriptive. Each motif and design had

15694-491: The study of rock art is a component of the archaeology of religion. Rock art serves multiple purposes in the contemporary world. In several regions, it remains spiritually important to indigenous peoples , who view it as a significant component of their cultural heritage. It also serves as an important source of cultural tourism, and hence as economic revenue in certain parts of the world. As such, images taken from cave art have appeared on memorabilia and other artifacts sold as

15827-533: The subject for decades. The discipline of rock art studies witnessed what Whitley called a "revolution" during the 1980s and 1990s, as increasing numbers of archaeologists in the Anglophone world and Latin America turned their attention to the subject. In doing so, they recognised that rock art could be used to understand symbolic and religious systems, gender relations, cultural boundaries, cultural change and

15960-577: The surrounding community. Between 750 and 800, Puebloans began constructing two large water containment structures in canyon bottoms – the Morefield and Box Elder reservoirs. Soon afterward, work began on two more: the Far View and Sagebrush reservoirs, which were approximately 90 feet (30 m) across and constructed on the mesa top. The reservoirs lie on an east–west line that runs for approximately 6 miles (10 km), which suggests builders followed

16093-481: The surrounding landscape. The murals were typically located on the face of the kiva bench and usually encircled the room. Geometric patterns that resemble symbols used in pottery and zigzag that represent stitches used in basket making are common motifs. The painted murals include the colors red, green, yellow, white, brown, and blue. The designs were still in use by the Hopi during the 15th and 16th centuries. According to

16226-472: The towers to associated kivas. Warfare was conducted using the same tools the Puebloans used for hunting game, including bows and arrows, stone axes, and wooden clubs and spears. They also crafted hide and basket shields that were used only during battles. Periodic warfare occurred on the mesa throughout the 13th century. Civic leaders in the region likely attained power and prestige by distributing food during times of drought. This system probably broke down during

16359-601: The variety of projectile points found in Mesa Verde indicates influence from surrounding areas, including the Great Basin , the San Juan Basin , and the Rio Grande Valley . The Archaic people probably developed locally, but were also influenced by contact, trade, and intermarriage with immigrants from these outlying areas. The early Archaic people living near Mesa Verde utilized the atlatl and harvested

16492-449: The winter solstice. Sun Temple is one of the largest exclusively ceremonial structures ever built by the Ancestral Puebloans. Starting in the 6th century, the farmers living in central Mesa Verde cultivated corn, beans, squash, and gourds. The combination of corn and beans provided the Puebloans with the amino acids of a complete protein . When conditions were good, 3 or 4 acres (12,000 or 16,000 m) of land would provide enough food for

16625-552: The world's greatest archaeological treasures". Pueblo III masonry buildings were typically occupied for approximately fifty years, more than double the usable lifespan of the Pueblo II jacal structures. Others were continuously inhabited for two hundred years or more. Architectural innovations such as towers and multi-walled structures also appear during the Pueblo III Era. Mesa Verde's population remained fairly stable during

16758-537: The world, who view them as both sacred items and significant components of their cultural heritage. Such archaeological sites may become significant sources of cultural tourism and have been used in popular culture for their aesthetic qualities. The term rock art appears in the published literature as early as the 1940s. It has also been described as "rock carvings", "rock drawings", "rock engravings", "rock inscriptions", "rock paintings", "rock pictures", "rock records", and "rock sculptures". Parietal art

16891-579: Was a rapid depopulation of Mesa Verde, as "tens of thousands of people" emigrated or died from starvation. Many smaller communities in the Four Corners region were also abandoned during this period. The Ancestral Puebloans had a long history of migration in the face of environmental instability, but the depopulation of Mesa Verde at the end of the 13th century was different in that the region was almost completely emptied, and no descendants returned to build permanent settlements. While drought, resource depletion, and overpopulation all contributed to instability during

17024-483: Was begun as early as 1020. The era's timber and earth unit pueblos were typically inhabited for about twenty years. During the early 12th century, the locus of regional control shifted away from Chaco to Aztec , New Mexico, in the southern Mesa Verde region. By 1150, drought had once again stressed the region's inhabitants, leading to a temporary cessation of great house construction at Mesa Verde. A severe drought from 1130 to 1180 led to rapid depopulation in many parts of

17157-454: Was introduced to Mesa Verde from Mexico, c.  300 CE. There is no evidence of ancient pottery markets in the region, but archaeologists believe that local potters exchanged decorative wares between families. Cooking pots made with crushed igneous rock tempers from places like Ute Mountain were more resilient and desirable, and Puebloans from throughout the region traded for them. Neutron activation analysis indicates that much of

17290-413: Was only allowed to be traded by the group shamans, while in other parts of North America, the word for "paint" was the same as the word for "supernatural spirit". One common form of pictograph, found in many, although not all rock-art producing cultures, is the hand print. There are three forms of this; the first involves covering the hand in wet paint and then applying it to the rock. The second involves

17423-452: Was produced at three locations: Sand Canyon, Castle Rock, and Mesa Verde. Archeological evidence indicates that nearly every household had at least one member who worked as a potter. Trench kilns were constructed away from pueblos and closer to sources of firewood. Their sizes vary, but the larger ones were up to 24 feet (7.3 m) long and thought to have been shared kilns that served several families. Designs were added to ceramic vessels with

17556-431: Was seasonally inhabited by a group of nomadic Paleo-Indians known as the Foothills Mountain Complex. The variety of projectile points found in the region indicates they were influenced by surrounding areas, including the Great Basin , the San Juan Basin , and the Rio Grande Valley . Later, Archaic people established semi-permanent rock shelters in and around the mesa . By 1000 BC, the Basketmaker culture emerged from

17689-593: Was the hunchbacked flute player that the Hopi call Kokopelli . By 500 AD, atlatls were being supplanted by the bow and arrow and baskets by pottery, marking the end of the Basketmaker II Era and the beginning of the Basketmaker III Era . Ceramic vessels were a major improvement over pitch -lined baskets, gourds, and animal hide containers, which had been the primary water storage containers in

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