Food, Pueblo I, Peoples of the Mesa Verde Region


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 Pueblo I Period: A.D. 750 to 900 Food During this period, agriculture became an increasingly important part of the Pueblo lifestyle. With the population not only growing, but also becoming more concentrated in villages, it was essential that people be able to produce a surplus of food. Abundant harvests in good years could be stored for bad years, when drought or cold temperatures reduced the harvest. Corn and beans were the dietary mainstay during the Pueblo I period. Squash was grown as well, and turkeys by this time were fully domesticated (Figure 1). People during the Pueblo I period continued to supplement their diet with wild plants and animals, and archaeological evidence suggests that these resources were sometimes depleted in the areas surrounding large villages, the result of over-collecting and over-hunting by village residents. Figure 1: Turkey

Food