When the Basket Makers first were recognized half a century ago it was noticed immediately that their skulls were strikingly different from those of the people who had lived in pueblos and cliff dwellings. Skulls of the Basket Makers were longer and narrower and there was no deformity on the back. In contrast, skulls of the later people were broad and this broadness was emphasized by a flattening on the back, a deformity caused by the hard cradle board. The head shape was so radically different that early archeologists assumed a new, broad-headed people had moved into the region during the eighth century and merged with the Basket Makers. As southwestern archeology progressed through uncertain early years this assumption that the Basket Makers and Pueblos were two different people was generally accepted. In those early days there was not enough skeletal material for an exhaustive comparative study and while many questions were unanswered and doubts were often expressed by archeologists, the separate identity of the Basket Makers and Pueblos was generally accepted. Now the story has changed. Recent intensive study of a large amount of skeletal material, ranging from the ancient Basket Makers to recent Pueblo Indians, has thrown new light on the problem. The result is that after all these years it now becomes apparent that there was no radical change of physical type at all. The Basket Maker type seems to have persisted with little evidence of any great addition of new blood. The radical change in the shape of the heads seems to have resulted from the new cradle which the people adopted during the eighth century. The soft, padded cradle of the Basket Makers was discarded and within a short time all of the women of the tribe were using a cradle made of wood. No pillow was placed under the baby’s head and the result was inevitable. The back of the head flattened, the sides bulged and a broad, deformed head resulted. How can this change of cradles be explained except by saying that it was a craze, a new beauty fad which caught the fancy of the people. Where it came from is not known: surely it must have been borrowed from other people with whom the Basket Makers came in contact. Evidently the new head shape became fashionable for within a short time the new cradle was adopted throughout the area. Instead of changing the hat or “hairdo”, as is the custom among modern people, they went to the very root of the matter and changed the shape of the skull itself. [Illustration: Basket Maker cradle] [Illustration: Pueblo cradle board]