Navajo rugs, blankets and weavings
Colorado Plateau
Monument Valley Navajo Reservation

The history of human habitation in the Colorado Plateau and Navajo National Monument area dates back as much as 10,000 years. At that time, nomadic hunters stalked game in the region. Little solid evidence for extensive habitation before 8,000 B.C. exists, but in the following 500 years, proto-Anasazi groups began to spread from their core areas to the region. From the evidence offered by a site near Navajo Mountain called Dust Devil Cave dated roughly 6,000 B.C., archeologists believe that the people of the region lived in small bands, practiced a hunting and gathering regimen, and had only rudimentary technologies. They moved about seasonally, following game and the maturation of edible plants and harvesting them as they became ripe. These people lived in temporary brush shelters or lean-tos, moving frequently and leaving their abodes behind.

This expansion put people in the vicinity of Navajo National Monument. Evidence from Dust Devil Cave suggests that proto-Anasazi Archaic people lived near the monument in this period, but as yet there are no discoveries of this vintage within the boundaries of Navajo National Monument. Yet that proximity suggests a central position for the region in the life of prehistoric peoples.

This transient nomadic lifestyle persisted for more than 5,000 years, until the domestication of maize. By 500 B.C., the cultivated grain played an important role in the life of prehistoric people. Over the subsequent 1,000 years, the product increased in its significance to the people of the area, becoming a staple of regional diet. As a result, the way people there lived was gradually transformed.

During this extended period, the people of the region--labeled Basketmaker II by archeologists--remained a small, highly mobile population that used a diverse resource base to survive. Wild and early domesticated plants such as flint corn and squash were staples. Their structures were slab-lined and subterranean, located in caves or shelters. These Basketmaker II groups had material goods such as baskets, weapons, clothing, textiles, and other similar items. To make such goods, they used a wide range of materials.

Mobility was a critical feature of life for Basketmaker II groups. Movement sustained them both by providing a variety of food sources and by allowing interaction with other groups. They moved in small groups that occasionally met with larger ones for trade, social interaction, and marriage as dictated by the rules of their culture. The widespread distribution of their sites reveals that Basketmaker II people were not yet completely sedentary, but were moving in that direction.

At this stage, archeological evidence suggests that the beginning of a religious and decision-making structure had already developed. Shamanistic cults existed within these societies, and artistic figures seem to indicate a ceremonial structure as well. The various groups were increasingly linked into larger-scale decision-making entities, adding cohesiveness to the structure of their society.

By 500 C. E., most of the people in northeastern Arizona lived much of the year in one or two places. The nomadic hunting and gathering life was becoming a memory as people began to live in semi-permanent villages. The growing importance of cultivation played a major role in this transformation. As they became agricultural people, this culture group no longer needed to move from place to place in search of food. The moves they made were seasonal rather than cyclic, from a summer homestead to a winter one and back again. These Basketmaker III people were far more rooted to place than their predecessors. Movement became directed at systematic resource use rather than for reasons of exchange and kinship.

• Navajo history
• Navajo Nation
• Canyon de Chelly
• Chaco Culture

Basketmaker people Monument Valley Navajo Reservation - page 5

Taos Trading Post is an online store, offering a tasteful variety of authentic Native American Indian rugs. We have been buying rugs for over 20 years, are family owned and operated, and committed to providing our customers with quality rugs, coupled with unsurpassed service. Our store sells only those weavings that meet our superior standards; and will therefore provide you, the customer, with years of pleasure. We stock a choice selection of contemporary Native American rugs, including Navajo, Mexican Zapotec and Indian rugs. We offer an attractive selection of authentic hand spun Navajo wool rugs in regional rug styles, including the popular Ganado, Storm, Two Grey Hills, and Teec Nos Pos designs, and our pledge of authenticity. Whether you prefer an authentic Navajo weaving or replica, our Southwest rugs will introduce the Native American Indian atmosphere to your home. Navajo, Indian, Mexican Zapotec and Southwest rugs, blankets and weavings for sale online.