Basketmaker Life Cycle

Basketmaker II society was a combination of highly nomadic hunter-gathers with small crops of maize. They oscillated between the traditional band-level economic and social practices and tribal-level sedentary farmer economic and social practices (Smiley 2016: Unit 9). Populations became larger, thus the need for a more settled lifestyle. However, they encompassed an area of about 600km wide (Smiley 2016: Unit 9). Basketmaker II society understood the value of watching crops, storing seed, had boundaries and introduced maize. I will discuss life through five, five year life stages of a Basketmaker II about 1,400 years ago. Beginning at ten years old, I will live my first five years at White Dog Cave. White Dog Cave is about a day walk from

Since this location is closer to the San Juan river, I hope to find more game to hunt. The last few years at White Dog rock shelter proved to be a very lean time. The winter precipitation is the same as in the past so the ground should be capable of handling the maize and squash crops. The monsoons have proven to be spectacular at Turkey Pen Ruin! There has been no sign of early or last frost effecting the crops in the past five years. I have had better luck hunting at this location than at White Dog Cave rock shelter. I was also able to find a proliferation of pinyon nut masts. I will collect as many pinyon nuts as possible to store for later. The maize, and squash crops have done well, and provided me with quality seed corn to store. The excellent hunting has given me enough to dry and store. In addition, the superior amount of pinyon nuts will be stored. I have been able to collect yucca and make an extensive amount of cordage, so I can make my family new sandals. My basket making skills have finally started to reach the quality of my mothers. I have decided to stay at this location for another five

This cave is east of the northern extension of the Comb Ridge. This cave is so much larger than the past two caves. The depth of it has afforded me the ability to stay fairly warm at the back of the shelter. The run-off from the winter should provide me with fertile places in the sandy areas to plant my maize. I am hoping that the average winter precipitation will help yield the crops I was able to enjoy in my first five years, and third five years. I hoped for some monsoons to provide natural irrigation through the Grand Gulch area, but I was disappointed. I tried to tend to my maize in the drought conditions. I planted twice as many maize seeds just in case. Since there was no unusual frost patterns, I was able to bounce back from the crop losses after the drought. Even though I am unable to hunt as well as I did when I was younger, my atlatl helped make up for my lack of dexterity. I was happy to find many pinyon nut masts during my last years. This made for an easier last year. I was able to meet my nutritional needs by grinding up the nuts. I feel myself growing weaker, I do not think I will be able to make it through the winter. I will leave my digging stick with my seed corn, so that it will be easier for my daughter to plant as she moves to the next rock