Introduction

Paleoindian
  Overview
  Food
  Housing
  Artifacts

Archaic
  Overview
  Food
  Housing
  Artifacts

Basketmaker II
  Overview
  Food
  Housing
  Artifacts

Basketmaker III
  Overview
  Food
  Housing
  Artifacts

Pueblo I
  Overview
  Food
  Housing
  Artifacts

Pueblo II
  Overview
  Food
  Housing
  Artifacts

Pueblo III
  Overview
  Food
  Housing
  Artifacts

 

The Basketmaker III Period: A.D. 500 to 750

Housing

As they grew more dependent on farming, people of the Basketmaker III period built their homes close to their agricultural fields. Typically, their farmsteads consisted of one or more pithouses, one or more aboveground storage rooms, and a number of outside fire hearths and storage pits. Storage space became increasingly important as people were able to grow a surplus of food that could be saved for future use.

Basketmaker III pithouses were dug about 1 meter (3 feet) belowground, which kept them cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The upper walls were built aboveground on a timber frame. Posts set into an earthen “bench” around the edges of the house were covered with smaller branches and brush. The roof beams were supported by large posts set into the floor, and the entire exterior of the house was sealed with a thick layer of adobe (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Basketmaker III Pithouse

Pithouses during this time varied in size and shape. Some were round, others were rectangular with rounded corners, and many were shaped like a figure eight. Those shaped like a figure eight had two chambers, similar to pithouses built at the end of the Basketmaker II period. The antechamber was used for storage, and the main chamber was where the family cooked, ate, and slept.

Deflectors were still used to divert air around the hearth, but some Basketmaker III pithouses also had “wing walls.” These low walls extended from the sides of the main chamber toward the center of the floor, near the deflector. Wing walls helped control air circulation in the pithouse and also subdivided the living area.

Although the pithouse provided some storage space for the family, additional space was needed to store large quantities of food. Early in the Basketmaker III period, storage pits were dug into the ground north of the pithouse. Later in the period, people also began building small rooms using the jacal (pronounced huh-CÄL) technique. This technique of wall construction involved setting posts in the ground, weaving thin branches and brush between them, and then sealing the exterior with a layer of adobe. When multiple rooms were built, they usually were arranged in a row north of the pithouse, and the rooms were not connected to one another (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Basketmaker III Farmstead Schematic

Typically, a family would live in a pithouse for 10 to 15 years before moving to a new location. With people living in one place for such a long time, large quantities of refuse accumulated, usually in a designated area south of the pithouse. An area of concentrated refuse is called a “midden,” and such deposits contain ash, broken artifacts, and discarded food scraps that help archaeologists reconstruct ancient lifeways.

Starting in Basketmaker III times, people began building a new kind of underground structure, which archaeologists call a “great kiva.” These very large, round structures are thought to have been used for public gatherings during which members of the community socialized, performed ceremonies, or discussed issues important to the group. Great kivas are one of the earliest examples of what archaeologists refer to as “public architecture.”