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Welcome
to Camp Internet's Explore the Ancient Southwest!
Exploring the Ancient Southwest
The Basketmakers
Basket making and Clothing
At the beginning of the Basket maker period there still were no permanent
houses that have been found.
Caves continued to provide shelters or temporary encampments beside lakes
or in the higher elevations as small game and wild plants became available
there in the later months of the year.
In these cave dwellings, the next period of human life - called the Basketmakers
- left evidence of new skills they were developing : basket making.
The newly created craft changed the lifestyle of the native peoples. Tightly
woven baskets could hold water and store grains. Sandals were manufactured
of yucca, bark and human hair. Cradleboards were constructed and lined
with soft furs to hold babies.
They made feather and fur blankets for capes, wove cotton cloth, and turned
deerskin into clothing. Some of the men braided their long hair, others
shaved parts of their scalps. The women probably wore their hair cropped
close to their heads. (these later descriptions are of remains found at
burial sites)
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