 |
||
Paleoindian Archaic Basketmaker II Basketmaker III Pueblo I Pueblo II Pueblo III
|
The Basketmaker III Period: A.D. 500 to 750FoodWith people now settled into a farming way of life, it was probably fairly easy for them to incorporate a new food crop into their fields. The new crop was the domesticated bean, similar to today’s pinto bean. Evidence for the farming of beans in the Mesa Verde region dates from about A.D. 500 (Figure 1).
Archaeologists estimate that at least half the Pueblo diet during the Basketmaker III period came from corn, beans, and squash (Figure 2). And in an era when food-preservation options were limited, corn and beans had the special advantage of having a relatively long “shelf life.” Once dried, both could be stored for long periods of time.
People during the Basketmaker III period continued to collect wild plants, but they were not as dependent on them as in times past. Pigweed, goosefoot, sunflower, lambsquarter, and ricegrass provided nutritious “greens” and/or seeds. Seasonal nuts and fruits also supplemented the diet. Some of the wild plants gathered by people during this time (for example, pigweed, goosefoot, and sunflower) were weeds that thrived in the disturbed soil of agricultural fields. These plants would have been especially easy for people to collect as they tended their crops. Because corn and beans made a complete protein, people may have been less dependent on animal sources of protein during the Basketmaker III period than during earlier periods. Still, a variety of animals were hunted, including deer, elk, bighorn sheep, rabbits, and rodents. Turkeys had probably become semidomesticated by this time, but archaeological evidence indicates that they weren’t eaten as regularly as wild game.
|
|
