The Indians of Carlsbad Caverns National ParkWilliams, Jack R.
History
The Indians of Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Williams, Jack R.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park (N.M.); Indians of North America -- Southwest, New
Woodworking with stone tools consisted of seven methods: chopping,
whittling, shaving and planing, sawing, splitting, gouging and scoring,
scraping and sanding.
Fire was made with the use of a wooden hearth. Friction was created by
revolving the point of a stick with the hands in a small depression in
the hearth, which contained tinder of punk wood, shredded inner bark or
grass. Cedar or juniper bark was probably used for torches.
Animal bone was used for awls, stone flaking tools, jewelry ornaments
and weaving tools; animal horn or antler was used much the same. There
is a slight possibility that bone gaming dice were made and used, as
perhaps were horn ladles and dippers.
In earlier times our Basketmakers used the atlatl as their predominant
weapon or hunting implement. It was composed of two parts; the stick for
throwing the dart, and the dart itself. Later the bow and arrow replaced
this implement in importance. Atlatls were from 19 to 25 inches in
length and were made of oak, mesquite, thorn growth Tornillo, sinew and
buckskin. Occasionally a small stone was attached to add weight and
balance. Atlatl dart shafts consisted of two parts. The foreshaft was of
heavy oak or comparatively hard wood with a stone point. This was
inserted into the main shaft of sotol bloom stalks. The idea being upon
impact that the base would fall away from the foreshaft, thus allowing
full penetration and less chance of the animal or man knocking or
pulling it out. Both the atlatl and dart shafts were sometimes highly
decorated. A variety of stone points were used as was the dart bunt,
which possibly was used as a stunner as its appearance suggests. The
dart bunt was a round wooden knob carved to insert into the main shaft.
Bows and arrows were made of varied hardwoods and reeds. Bows had an
average pull of about 40 pounds and were from 3½ to 5 feet in length.
Arrows were 20 to 28 inches long, and the bowstring was either yucca
fiber or sinew.
The lance or spear, ordinary stick clubs, grooved fending sticks, round
fending sticks, flattened and round throwing sticks found may also have
been used as weapons.
Disposition of the dead was accomplished by burying with offerings in a
flexed or semi-flexed position on the back, or cremated with the burned
remains being buried in bags or baskets.
The graves are usually small and quite shallow. Burials are found in
caves, midden circles, and open sites—practically any place where
digging was easy. Quite often the unburned burials had a “kill hole”
pottery bowl placed over the face. Cremation, from all appearances, was
practiced earlier and was concurrent to inhumation.
The few skeletal remains found in the natural entrance and Bat Cave
section of the Carlsbad Caverns suggest midden type burials or
accidental demise, perhaps by falling.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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