Basketmaker

expand_more Description

The Basketmaker tradition is found in southern Nevada and Utah, southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona, from around 3000 to 1300 BP. The people were semi-sedentary horticulturalists who lived in pit houses in rockshelters during the early part of the tradition, and in pit houses in open-air sites forming small hamlets during the later part of the tradition. They grew corn and squash but also relied on pine nuts and other gathered foods. Sophisticated fiber baskets and string bags are characteristic. Very late in the tradition people started making plain pottery, probably for cooking the beans they had begun to cultivate. Elaborate burials were placed in and around their dwellings.

Identifier

Region

• North America

Subregion

• Southwest and Basin

Subsistence Type

• primarily hunter-gatherers

Countries

• United States