<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN>
<div class="box">
<h1>THE INDIANS OF <br/>CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK</h1>
<p class="center"><i>by</i>
<br/><span class="sc">Jack R. Williams</span></p>
</div>
<h2 class="center">CONTENTS</h2>
<span class="small">Page</span>
<br/><SPAN href="#c1">Acknowledgements</SPAN> 2
<br/><SPAN href="#c2">The Indians of Carlsbad Caverns National Park</SPAN> 5
<br/><SPAN href="#c3">Early Man</SPAN> 9
<br/><SPAN href="#c4">The Carlsbad Basketmakers</SPAN> 10
<br/><SPAN href="#c5">The Mescalero Apaches</SPAN> 25
<br/><SPAN href="#c6">The Comanches</SPAN> 34
<br/><SPAN href="#c7">Bibliography</SPAN> 38
<br/><SPAN href="#c8">Footnotes</SPAN> 38
<div class="pb" id="Page_2">2</div>
<h2 id="c1"><span class="small">ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS</span></h2>
<p>This booklet was prepared as an elementary basis for those
interested in the Indians of this section. It is far from complete
but if it answers only one question—the effort was well spent.</p>
<p>It is rare that research into any subject is done alone. This
is no exception, for many are responsible in their contributions.</p>
<p>First, without the help, comments and criticism of Erik Reed
this paper would have been nought. Then thanks must go to
Charlie Steen and Stanley Stubbs for their pottery identification
which helped establish the various time phases.</p>
<p>The persons listed in the bibliography represent the true
basis of learning and I unhesitatingly refer one and all to them.</p>
<p>To Lynn Coffin for his encouragement and comments, grateful
acknowledgement is made. To Bob Barrel for his help—talk,
photos and all—thanks are extended.</p>
<p>Especial thanks must go to Mary Pauline Smith for taking
care of the grammatical errors as well as typing the manuscript.
And, to Phyllis Broyles for her art work.</p>
<p>The map, head sketches and photos not credited are by the
author.</p>
<p class="tb">This is dedicated to my wife, Marie.</p>
<p class="tbcenter"><span class="small">Copyright 1956 by Jack R. Williams, Carlsbad, New Mexico</span></p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_3">3</div>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/p01.jpg" alt="" width-obs="800" height-obs="511" /> <p class="pcap"><i>Map showing distribution of Indian groups</i></p> </div>
<div class="pb" id="Page_4">4</div>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/p02.jpg" alt="" width-obs="795" height-obs="800" /> <p class="pcap"><i>Natural entrance to the Carlsbad Caverns</i></p> </div>
<div class="pb" id="Page_5">5</div>
<h1 id="c2">THE INDIANS OF <br/>CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK</h1>
<p>The Indian story of the Park is quite complicated for
several reasons. First, we cannot confine our story to the
man-made boundaries of today, but to the natural geographic
features which are mainly the Guadalupe Mountains. Second,
we must deal with more than one group of people and outside
cultural influences of each group. These groups, however,
will be confined mostly to New Mexico and north and west
Texas. Then, too, long periods of time must be taken into
consideration.</p>
<p>So, let us start our story with man’s first entry into the
new world some 15 to 25,000 years ago. Most archaeologists
agree that man came from Asia via the Bering Straits, perhaps
by a land bridge or over the ice. Undoubtedly many migrations
over a long period of time were made by various small
groups of peoples. These first people were nomadic followers
of game and perhaps gatherers of seeds. Steadily moving
southward, they eventually reached what is now southeastern
New Mexico and north and west Texas. How long they lived
here, where they went and who their ancestors were are
unknown. Theory plus material evidence suggest that they
may have evolved into what archaeologists call the Cochise
complex to Basketmaker to Pueblo, with deviations in all
groups. Yet, at the present time there is not enough evidence
this last happened that simply, so we shall attempt to present
the evidence as interpreted for each group or groups coming
into contact with Carlsbad Caverns National Park and adjacent
areas.</p>
<p>There appears to be a long time-lag between Early Man
<span class="pb" id="Page_6">6</span>
and our next group, the Basketmakers. Positive proof indicates
that the Basketmakers were here before 900 A.D., and possibly
as early as 4000 years ago. Our Basketmakers, which are
not to be confused in any manner with the San Juan Basketmakers,
were a rather isolated group and tended to remain
that way through numerous outside influences. While Pueblo
groups to the west and north were progressing in agriculture,
architecture, and esthetic arts, our group, because of their
environment, remained more or less stable in their mode of
life—hunter, and gatherers of seeds—in an area totally
unsuitable for agriculture.</p>
<p>Next to enter our area were the Apaches from the north
after 1300 A.D.(?) Whether they exerted pressure on the
Basketmakers we do not know. After the Apaches acquired
horses from the Spanish, thus making them mobile, different
groups moved to other parts of New Mexico and Arizona.
Branching to the south and southeast were the Mescalero and
Lipan bands. The Mescalero band settled in an area which
included the Guadalupe Mountains and surrounding districts
whence they raided the Pueblo Indians and the Spanish until
about 1725, when another Plains group, the Comanches, came
into the country from the northeast. By pushing the Apaches
north and west, the Comanches controlled a tremendous
portion of the Southern Plains.</p>
<p>Quite probably all of the mentioned Indian groups knew
of the entrance to the Carlsbad Caverns. However, physical
evidence that they did was left by only one group—the
Basketmakers. On the south wall of the natural entrance
may be seen pictographs or paintings of some weather worn
figures in red (ocher) and black (probably carbon). On the
surface just above the cave mouth is a distinct “midden circle”
or cooking pit. Many of these midden circles are found
throughout the entire area and will be explained more fully
in the chapter on the Carlsbad Basketmakers.</p>
<p>There is little physical evidence that any of the Indians
went into the cave beyond the entrance which they obviously
used as a means of shelter. It is very unlikely that they
<span class="pb" id="Page_7">7</span>
ventured beyond the now Bat Cave section of the cave for
several logical reasons. Light is the paramount factor in cave
exploration, and the Indians’ only means of light would have
been from rather crude torches of bark, grass, or wood, none
of which gives off much light, nor burns for any appreciable
length of time. Probably the young and agile only would
attempt the precarious descent, if only to break the humdrum
of everyday existence.</p>
<p>Upon first viewing the Caverns entrance, one readily notices
the steep slope downward and the sheer drop to the floor of
the Bat Cave section, and how, at the bottom of this drop,
there is built up a sizeable pile of rubble. From this rubble
and the bat guano deposits that led away from it in all
directions have come numerous skeletal remains, burnt and
worked stone, and fragments of woven articles, such as bags,
sandals, and baskets. Burials were also found in the small
solution pockets or holes seen in the vicinity of the paintings
in the entrance proper.<SPAN class="fn" id="fr_1" href="#fn_1">[1]</SPAN></p>
<p>The Indians living any length of time in this area were
concerned primarily with obtaining food, and this was a
constant struggle. So, from this practical point of view, they
wouldn’t have any business going into what we now call the
scenic sections of the cave. On the other hand we cannot
say they did not go down, because we know man’s curiosity
can get the better of him sometimes. It is very logical to
assume that, over the long period of time man has been in
and around the area, someone climbed down and looked.</p>
<p>Some people are of the assumption that the superstitious
nature of the Indians kept them out of the cave. True, man
<span class="pb" id="Page_8">8</span>
has always been somewhat afraid of the dark and will probably
always be so. That the Indians were superstitious of the bats,
which fly out the entrance each summer evening in search of
night-flying insects, is very questionable. First of all, if the
people were afraid of the bats they would not have lived
under the entrance overhang. This writer could find only one
instance where bats were regarded other than “little brothers,”
and this was a myth among the Guiana Indians of South
America that concerned “big bats that suck humans dry of
blood,” and also a “large bat that would carry people off.”
The bats and night owls raided together, but the people
overcame their fear and killed them.</p>
<p>Animals did not, as a rule, inhabit the cavern, so the
Indians would not be down there hunting. Animals did from
time to time stumble in; and, in 1946, there was found the
skeletal remains of an extinct ground sloth. Beneath the
entrance have been found skeletons of many small animals
that died either from the fall or starvation.</p>
<p>Thus, we cannot say that the Indians went into the cave
any distance, nor can we say that they did not, simply
because we do not know.</p>
<p>To fully understand and appreciate the story of any group
or groups of people, one must be acquainted somewhat with
the country in which they lived. The country inhabited by
the Indians of Carlsbad Caverns National Park has a wide
temperature and altitude range, and four life zones (Upper
and Lower Sonoran, Canadian, and Transition). The Guadalupe
Mountains developed from a limestone reef laid down in
a shallow sea during the Permian period of the earth’s history,
over 200 million years ago. They are cut with many deep
canyons containing numerous caves, but have little permanent
water. Plant and animal life are abundant and varied. Due
mainly to the lack of water, agriculture was not practiced in
this particular area. The economy was one known as “hunting
and gathering.”</p>
<p>Perhaps a brief description of each group that lived, hunted,
and visited in this area will best picture how and why they did.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_9">9</div>
<h2 id="c3"><span class="small">EARLY MAN</span></h2>
<p>About all we can say for Early Man and the Park is that
he was here. The only material remains found was a Folsom-like
projectile point. This point was discovered in Burnet
Cave in the Guadalupe Mountains in direct association with
extinct animal bones.</p>
<p>What he looked like, we have no idea; but he was apparently
a nomadic hunter and follower of game. Because he
followed game is probably the main reason he arrived here
from Asia in late Pleistocene times—15 to 25,000 years ago.
He hunted the now extinct bison (<i>antiquus</i>), two species of
the American horse (<i>Equus fraternus</i> and <i>E. complicatus</i>), a
rare four-horned antelope (<i>Tetrameryx</i>), the California
condor, camel, ground sloth, and a muskox or caribou-like
animal (<i>Bootherium</i> sp.). Undoubtedly these old ones utilized
plants for food too.</p>
<p>It is safe to assume that he dressed in skins, if he dressed
at all. Whether caves were used as shelter we do not know;
but quite probably they were, as the climate was pluvial.</p>
<p>The method of projection for the point mentioned likely
was done either via a lance or the atlatl (spearthrower and
dart). The latter is nothing more than a stick with a nock
for the dart on one end. It extends and gives more leverage
to the arm for throwing.</p>
<p>Where did he go? Some call him Folsom man; others say
he is of the Cochise complex. He may have stayed where his
descendants later became what we now call the “Basketmakers.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_10">10</div>
<h2 id="c4"><span class="small">THE CARLSBAD BASKETMAKERS</span></h2>
<div class="fig">> <ANTIMG src="images/p03.jpg" alt="Human head" width-obs="400" height-obs="389" /></div>
<p>The true occupants of Carlsbad Caverns National Park
were a group of Indians known as “Basketmakers.” They
may have been descendants of the early people, or perhaps a
new and distinct group. This name was applied because
these people made excellent baskets and other woven objects,
and had some similarity in culture traits to the San Juan
Basketmakers or Anasazi of the Four Corners area. Moreover,
there is some similarity in culture traits to the Big Bend
Basketmakers of Texas and the Ozark Bluff Dwellers. Perhaps
the name best suited for this group would be “cave dwellers,”
as they used caves of all sizes, from small overhangs to those
of huge proportions, for shelter. Yet, it must be remembered
that seasonally they lived in the open. However, to avoid
later confusion, we shall refer to them as the Carlsbad
Basketmakers.</p>
<p>The Carlsbad Basketmakers were an unusual group only
“here and there adopting a few cultural traits from their
neighbors, but essentially remaining food gatherers and hunters,”
<span class="pb" id="Page_11">11</span>
a rather simple state of culture as compared to their
contemporaries.</p>
<p>Our group was in contact with the Mogollon people to the
west before 900 A.D., and possibly 600 years earlier. Pottery
found here indicates this as well as other contacts. (See <SPAN href="#fig1">Map</SPAN>.)
Pottery is somewhat like a fingerprint. There are certain
features about it which are peculiar to only one particular
area, and that is the area within which it was made.
Consequently, pottery can show time, trade, contact, and
movement of ceramic-making prehistoric peoples. At about
this same time, social intercourse was also being carried on
with the Hueco Basketmakers to the west and the Big Bend
Basketmakers to the south.</p>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/p03a.jpg" alt="" width-obs="800" height-obs="586" /> <p class="pcap"><i>The combined use of metate and mortar was found here</i></p> </div>
<p>After 1200, we find Chaco or true Anasazi influence coming
into the Rio Grande valley to Gran Quivera, thence to southeastern
New Mexico. This influence represents the Pueblo
<span class="pb" id="Page_12">12</span>
Indians who apparently changed the Carlsbad Basketmakers’
way of life more than any other. This continued until sometime
between 1500 and 1600, when a drastic and complete
change came over all the aboriginal peoples in this section.</p>
<p>The Spanish entered the Southwest, bringing the horse,
which prompted this change. The Apaches had slowly been
working their way southward from sometime after 1300 A.D.
By trade and theft they acquired horses from the Spanish,
and, in so doing, the long and bloody career of the Apaches
got under way. This freedom and rapidity of movement
afforded by the horse allowed them to raid, pillage, and
murder Indians and Spanish alike. It is about this time that
we lose track of our Basketmakers.</p>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/p04.jpg" alt="" width-obs="800" height-obs="624" /> <p class="pcap"><i>A small cave dwelling in Walnut Canyon</i></p> </div>
<p>What happened to them is pure supposition. The Carlsbad
Basketmakers, for defense or economic reasons, probably
joined the Pueblo groups of either the Gran Quivera or El Paso
<span class="pb" id="Page_13">13</span>
areas and became completely absorbed. Many Pueblo traits
found here contribute to this supposition, such as pottery
changes and physical changes of the people themselves. For
example, the early Carlsbad Basketmakers were long-headed
individuals (dolichocephalic). Near the end of their era the
head shape changed by artificial deformation, or flattening,
brought about by the use of a hard cradle board, to a broad
head or brachycephalic type. All along the line there was an
admixture of physical types, with the three types being
present; long, medium (mesocephalic), and broad.</p>
<p>The Carlsbad Basketmaker would very likely fit into practically
any present Pueblo group and not be noticed. He was
of medium stature, about 5′4″-5′6″ in average height. His
life span was between 30-35 years, and he suffered from
arthritis, bad teeth, and broken bones quite often.</p>
<p>The material culture of a people is, perhaps, their most
important characteristic, as it represents the utilization of the
natural resources in a particular area or environment. Caves
were used for a number of purposes: burial, ceremonial,
transitory living, etc. It is from these caves that archaeologists
dig out the material objects left by prehistoric people and
are able to reconstruct the story of the occupants.</p>
<p>As previously mentioned, the name of our Carlsbad Caverns
National Park Indians was applied because they made excellent
baskets and woven objects. Coiled baskets of yucca with
grass, sotol, or twigs of flexible wood as the binder were the
most common. Most baskets have designs of various colors
woven into them. Red-brown dye was probably made from
mountain mahogany. The black was strips of Devil’s Claw
(<i>Martynia arenaria</i>). Baskets were waterproofed by smearing
pine pitch or mesquite gum on them.</p>
<p>Sandals of yucca and grasses are found in abundance.
The square-toed sandal is the most prominent, although the
round fishtailed type is common. Both were woven with a
variety of ply-thicknesses. They ranged from 5 to 11 inches in
length, and 2½ to 4 inches in width. The only known sandal
fragment found in the natural entrance to the Caverns is of
the square-toed type and is classed as a two warp-two ply.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_14">14</div>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/p05.jpg" alt="" width-obs="800" height-obs="844" /> <p class="pcap"><i>The Basketmaker paintings on the south wall of the natural entrance to the Carlsbad Caverns</i></p> </div>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/p05a.jpg" alt="Basketmaker paintings" width-obs="800" height-obs="454" /></div>
<div class="pb" id="Page_15">15</div>
<p>Yucca seems to have been the most-used plant for weaving.
Mats of yucca and beargrass were woven in a variety of ways.
A coarse cloth netting and cordage of yucca fiber was used
for snaring rabbits and other small game, and large bags of
yucca fiber cordage were made for burial purposes. These
cone-shaped, twine-woven bags were sometimes quite elaborately
woven of red and white cords with horizontal black
and yellow bands running completely around them.</p>
<p>Cotton was grown to the west, and some combination of
cotton and yucca fabrics was made here. Clothing or blankets
of animal fur (usually rabbit) and feather (turkey) cloth
was common. (This turkey cloth was probably traded from
the Pueblos.) Too, plain fur, cloth, and skin robes were used
for covering.</p>
<p>Hair was woven into rope, as were mesquite fiber and
agave. Raw material apparently kept on hand as fiber bundles
and rings of grass were common finds. V-shaped cradles were
made of grass, and sleeping pits were lined with it.</p>
<p>Pottery is really incidental; and, for the most part, intrusive
to southeastern New Mexico. It is questionable if the area
inhabitants made pottery, but they probably did to some
extent. There is found a considerable amount of plain brown
ware, and it occurs from early to late times. This ware,
although unnamed except for “plain Brown,” is thought to
be of local manufacture. Practically all pottery found here
was fired in the presence of oxygen (oxidizing atmosphere).
A number of types, varying in color from a terracotta, through
brown, to reddish tones, are all classed as brown ware.</p>
<p>The earliest pottery found in southeastern New Mexico is
Mogollon in origin. Mogollon pottery is a derivative from
southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. The
Mogollon brown and red wares found in this section are
definitely pre-900 A.D., and possibly pre-700. These wares
are found to have been used through 1150 A.D.</p>
<p>The big influx of pottery came during late Pueblo III and
Pueblo IV times from 1150 to 1450 A.D. From the west
<span class="pb" id="Page_16">16</span>
came Mimbres Black on White, which dates from 1050 to
1200 A.D., Jornada Brown, El Paso Polychrome, and Brown
wares. From the north, northwest, and west, because of
Pueblo expansion, came Three Rivers Red on Terracotta,
St. Johns Polychrome (from the Zuni area), Chupadero
Black on White (from Gran Quivira), Lincoln Black on Red,
and Rio Grande glaze wares. It is interesting to note that
pottery changes in this area parallel those of the Mogollon
to some degree.</p>
<p>Our Basketmakers were dependent primarily upon wild
plant foods, as corn seems to be lacking; and they supplemented
their diet by some hunting of game. To the south
of the Park is the Black River. In this fertile valley, with its
continuous water supply, it is logical to assume that corn was
probably cultivated; but there is absolutely no evidence to
prove this. Corn was grown about 50 miles north, near
Hope, New Mexico, where Pueblo-like settlements were common
from 1150 to 1300 A.D. Corn, beans, and squash may
have been traded to our cave people by the Pueblos. Lack of
practiced agriculture in the Guadalupe Mountain area was
probably due to the scarcity of water. Water from seeps,
springs, and shallow depressions in the limestone was, of
course, utilized.</p>
<p>The roasted young bud and heart of the mescal or agave
plant apparently was the paramount food, with the cabbage-like
base or heart of the sotol running a close second. Yucca
pulp and seeds, mesquite beans (Tornillo or screwbean), grass
seeds, piñon nuts, acorns, walnuts, cactus fruits (prickly pear
and cholla), wild onions, wild potatoes and other bulb or
tuber-bearing plants, grapes, berries and others were utilized.
Herbs from true sage brush (<i>Artemisia</i>), wild tobacco, and
possibly soap made from the roots of the yucca <i>radiosa</i> were
used. A favorite quick food was the young flower stalks of
yucca in season.</p>
<p>Mescal hearts and baked sotol leaves were stored in caves
in cists lined with grass, twigs and bark. Stone slab-lined
storage cists were known also.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_17">17</div>
<p>Mesquite beans were pulverized into meal, as substantiated
by the many mortar holes throughout the area. The meal
was probably fashioned by pounding the beans and pods
together, winnowing out the pods, grinding until fairly uniform,
and eating them either raw or molded into cakes and
cooked in ashes, or into soups. Gourds were used for a
household receptacle, probably as a ladle or dipper.</p>
<p>The entire country is dotted with large “midden circles.”
The one most seen by visitors is located at the natural entrance.
For years these circles have erroneously been called “mescal
pits” and were thought to have been used strictly for baking
or roasting the mescal plant by both our Basketmakers and
later the Apaches. In remote instances, it is possible that the
Apaches used them, but not as a common practice.</p>
<p>The main difference between the Basketmaker midden circle
and the Apache mescal pit is that the true mescal pit or earth
oven is a depression definitely sunk below the ground level,
whereas the midden circle is on ground level. Consequently,
the midden circle had other uses than the preparation of
mescal hearts.</p>
<p>There are three types of midden circles. The most common
is the circular mound, which is found up to an altitude of
7500 feet, and out considerable distances into the flats. It is
of interest to note that no midden circles of the Carlsbad
Basketmakers are found east of the Pecos River. The circular
ones will average from 30 to 35 feet in diameter in this area.</p>
<p>“The first stage (of development) seems to have begun
with the construction of a fireplace composed of fairly large
rocks. When heat had cracked these into fragments too small
to be useful, the broken bits were then cleared away from a
circle about the fire and the hearth rebuilt with other large
stones, which in turn were discarded when broken down by
heat. When this process had been repeated many times, the
cleared circle immediately around the fire was surrounded by
a ring formed by an accumulation of the rejected small stones.
In course of time and with constant additions of ash and
discarded rock, the resulting mound grew to such height that
<span class="pb" id="Page_18">18</span>
it might even have proved serviceable as a wind break. That
such a method was employed seems quite probable, because
all the stones composing the outer ring show hard firing,
while scattered through the mass are found ashes and rejecta
of a camp. If this hypothesis is accepted, a large number of
these structures would indicate an extended occupation or
perhaps repeated occupation over a comparatively long
period.” (Mera)</p>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p06.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="560" /> <p class="pcap"><i>This drawing shows the three stages of development of the midden circle</i></p> </div>
<p>The second type is found on ledges or narrow terraces
along canyon walls and was elongated in shape. The third
is built out in front of caves and shelters and takes on a
rough half-circle shape. The mescal pit as used by the Apaches
is described in their section.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_19">19</div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p06a.jpg" alt="" width-obs="800" height-obs="577" /> <p class="pcap"><i>A Basketmaker Midden Circle or cooking pit</i></p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p06b.jpg" alt="" width-obs="796" height-obs="553" /> <p class="pcap"><i>A cut-bank showing an elongated Basketmaker Midden in Slaughter Canyon</i></p> </div>
<div class="pb" id="Page_20">20</div>
<p>Practically all game was hunted, notably mule deer, elk,
and buffalo; and next, if not the most important, rabbits, both
the cottontail and jackrabbit. Also, antelope, plains white-tail
deer, big horn sheep, peccary (Javelina), mountain lion,
bobcat, wolf, fox, coyote, badger, porcupine, ring-tailed cat,
opossum, prairie dog, armadillo, pack rat, kangaroo-rat,
muskrat, field mouse, white-foot mouse, beaver, pocket mouse,
ground squirrel, pocket gopher as well as fish, ducks, hawks,
owls, quail, desert tortoise, pigeons, doves, large terrapin,
lizards, and snakes were utilized.</p>
<p>Our people had the dog and probably ate him in time of
famine. Although some turkey bones have been found, it is
quite certain that this bird was not domesticated here as it was
among the Pueblos. Needless to say, leather was fashioned
from the skins of practically all animals and was used for
pouches, snares, etc.</p>
<p>Usually the first thing to enter our minds when stone is
mentioned in connection with aboriginal peoples is arrowheads
or projectile points. Stone was used for many and varied
purposes, and it would be difficult to list these in order of
importance. Projectile points were, of course, important,
though used primarily for hunting rather than warfare.
Points of various sizes, shapes and materials were used by the
Carlsbad Basketmakers. First were the dart and lance points,
and later, as arrow points, after the introduction of the bow
to the Southwest. Flints, cherts, and chalcedonies were the most
common materials used for points and small tools, although
rhyolite, felsite, etc., have been found. Stone was worked by
grinding, pecking, drilling, and percussion and pressure flaking.</p>
<p>Mortars were usually cut into stationary rock near camping
places such as those seen near the natural entrance to the
Caverns, although small portable mortars were used to some
extent. The pestles were usually made of granite and were
carried from camp to camp, as pestles with yucca leaf carrying-straps
have been found.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_21">21</div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p07.jpg" alt="" width-obs="800" height-obs="664" /> <p class="pcap"><i>Projectile points, pottery, decorated sea shell, a mano-pestle and a sandal fragment from Carlsbad Caverns National Park</i> <br/><span class="jr small">(<i>National Park Service Photo</i>)</span></p>
</div>
<p>Metates or grinding bowls are less common. Metates were
made from limestone, sandstone, and granite, while the mano,
the small stone used for crushing and grinding on the metate,
was composed of limestone, granite, and travertine. The
metates are oval, circular, and semi-flat in appearance, and the
manos are of the one-hand type.</p>
<p>Leaf-shaped knives, end scrapers, side scrapers, drills, choppers,
hammerstones, rubbing or smoothing stones, axes and
stone pipes were made and used.</p>
<p>Found throughout the Guadalupe Mountains, sometimes at
the head of canyons, usually on the canyon floors, are small
stone cairns and stone rings or circles. To date, no feasible
explanation is given as to their function. These are not to be
confused with the “midden circles” previously mentioned.</p>
<p>For other than fuel, wood was widely used as clubs, digging
<span class="pb" id="Page_22">22</span>
sticks, atlatl, darts, spear foreshafts, bows, arrows, projectile
points, fire sets (drill and hearth), seed storage tubes, fending
sticks, throwing sticks (rabbit sticks), and wooden stoppers
for canteens.</p>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p08.jpg" alt="" width-obs="600" height-obs="764" /> <p class="pcap"><i>One of the mortar holes near the mouth of the entrance to the Carlsbad Caverns</i> <br/><span class="jr small">(<i>National Park Service Photo</i>)</span></p>
</div>
<p>Woodworking with stone tools consisted of seven methods:
chopping, whittling, shaving and planing, sawing, splitting,
gouging and scoring, scraping and sanding.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_23">23</div>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The few skeletal remains found in the natural entrance and
Bat Cave section of the Carlsbad Caverns suggest midden type
<span class="pb" id="Page_24">24</span>
burials or accidental demise, perhaps by falling.</p>
<p>Possibly one of the most interesting and still visible bits
of evidence of the Carlsbad Basketmakers are the pictographs
or paintings on the south wall of the Cave entrance. These
markings are badly weathered, but one can distinguish what
appears once to have been a red figure with black up-raised
arms of a person, and blobs of red and black which may have
been anything.</p>
<p>In other caves over the area have been found other pictographs
(paintings) and petroglyphs (pecked) designs. Paints
were made from red hematite (red oxide of iron); red and
yellow ochers; blue and green from copper carbonates, azurite
and malachite; black carbon and white kaolinite.</p>
<p>Occasionally there are found small pebbles with painted
designs or lines on them, but their function is unknown.</p>
<p>Jewelry consisted of wooden combs and wooden pin hair
ornaments, beads and pendants of white and pink shell, gypsum,
black beidellite, turquoise, bone, squash seeds and sections of
reeds. Beads were strung on hair cord or yucca fiber cord.
Bracelets of Glycimeris shell were worn.</p>
<p>For the most part the shell tells of considerable trade to
the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California by our people.
Fresh water mussel shells common to the Pecos River were
also used for ornaments. Trade was carried on from Mexico
into this general region as indicated by the finds of copper
bells and macaw parrot feathers from Pueblo ruins in southern
New Mexico.</p>
<p>Ceremonial paraphernalia finds are rather rare. Fragments
of a golden eagle feather headdress, rattles of gourds, and
turtle or tortoise shells, pahos (prayer sticks), wooden wands
and wooden painted tablitas (headdresses) have been unearthed
in Guadalupe Mountain caves. Closely related to ceremonial
purposes, and usually found in close association with the
above, are reed cigarettes and whistles, prayer offerings of
miniature fending sticks, fiber balls, gaming dice (sticks or
counters), as well as possible ceremonial bow sets. As to how
the ceremonial objects were used is, naturally, conjecture.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_25">25</div>
<h2 id="c5"><span class="small">THE MESCALERO APACHES</span></h2>
<div class="fig">> <ANTIMG src="images/p09.jpg" alt="Human head" width-obs="400" height-obs="430" /></div>
<p>From the north they came, this much we know, and comparatively
recently. About 600 years ago many tribes of
Apaches slowly worked their way southward, following the
game and gathering the wild plant food, eventually ranging
over a great land area from the Pecos River on the east to
the borders of the Papago country in southern Arizona on
the west; from Colorado to northern Mexico, to the Gulf of
Mexico in Texas. The Apaches, members of the Athapascan
linguistic family, were first recorded historically on the southern
plains by the Spanish in 1540-41, who called them
Querecho. However, it is entirely possible that Cabeza de Baca
in 1534-35 encountered them. The Mescalero, Lipan, and
Tuetenene (a hybrid of the former two) were living in this
area at that time. They were first called Apaches in 1598 by
Oñate.</p>
<p>The Mescalero Apaches ranged from the Rio Grande to
the Staked Plains, and were closely allied with both the western
Apache groups and tribes of the southern plains. The
“Natohene” or “Natshene” (mescal people or water willow
people), as they called themselves, were composed of three
bands; the Kahoane, Ni’ahane, and Huskaane.</p>
<p>The Ni’ahane band lived in the Sacramento, Guadalupe,
Sierra Blanca, and Capitan Mountains, an area that included
what is now Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Their name
means “people of the terraced mountains.” To the south of
this band were the Tuetenene; and southeast of them, in the
Big Bend country, lived the Lipan Apaches (a true Plains
Indian group).</p>
<p>In order to avoid confusion between the various Apache
<span class="pb" id="Page_26">26</span>
tribes and bands to frequent the area of Carlsbad Caverns
National Park, the term Mescalero will be used. It should be
pointed out that actually very little is known about this
group, so the material presented is far from complete and
is only general information.</p>
<p>Although of a war-like nature, the Mescaleros were never
considered as dangerous as their brethren farther west. Yet,
after acquiring horses from the Spanish, they raided and
warred until about 1875, when subdued; and the Mescalero
Reservation was established in the White Mountains northeast
of the White Sands in New Mexico.</p>
<p>Culturally speaking, the Mescaleros, Lipans, and their hybrid,
the Tuetenenes, were basically Plains with some western
Apache traits common only to the Mescaleros.</p>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/p10.jpg" alt="" width-obs="800" height-obs="570" /> <p class="pcap"><i>The Painted Grotto, a highly painted Mescalero Apache ceremonial cave located in Slaughter Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico</i></p> </div>
<p>Actual physical evidence left by the Mescalero Apaches in
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is scant. Their most prominent
calling card is found in a small cave in West Slaughter
<span class="pb" id="Page_27">27</span>
Canyon. About 4½ miles from the mouth of the canyon, some
65 feet above the dry stream bed, is the “Painted Grotto.”
This little cave is approximately 57 feet across the front, 21
feet at the deepest point, and the ceiling slopes from 16 feet
at the front to about 6 feet at the back. On the walls and
ceiling are several hundred multicolored pictographs, all
painted with earth ground ochers in red, yellow, white, golden
yellow, and shades of pink. Caves of this type were used as
shrines or media for ceremonies or religious dances, incantations,
etc., and are considered very sacred. This bit of evidence
definitely establishes the Mescalero on the Park proper, and
a legend handed down to the Modern Apaches indicated that
they knew of the main Caverns entrance as well. This legend
tells of a medicine man who went into the cave to make “big
medicine.” Supposedly, he was last seen wandering away
from the entrance, beating his tom-tom; and yearly, on the
anniversary of this exploit, the Apaches would come to the
entrance to leave offerings of food for him.</p>
<p>The Mescaleros were attracted to the Guadalupe Mountains
area due to the abundance of plant and animal life and the
many springs found here. The cooking of their favorite food,
the mescal, arouses some curiosity. Found throughout the
region are remains of the Carlsbad Basketmakers’ midden
circles previously mentioned. In remote instances perhaps the
Apaches cooked in these so-called “mescal pits.” Quite likely
though, they cooked on the surface without the aid of a pit.
Today, in many places along the ridges, can be seen spaces
of ground, devoid of vegetation, covered with rocks which
have obviously been broken from fire. The Chiricahua Apaches
to the west tell of a method of baking mescal without digging
a pit. Rocks are heated and scattered on the level ground;
the mescal crowns are put on them, and fresh grass and
dirt are piled over all. This “oven” has the appearance of
a mound when in use; but after the mescal is removed, and
time has elapsed, it would appear to be simply a space of
barren ground covered with burnt stones.</p>
<p>To the north of the Guadalupe Mountains is found evidence
<span class="pb" id="Page_28">28</span>
of true Apache mescal pits, and they are just that, a pit dug
into the ground. The pit is dug round, about 7 feet across
and from 3 to 4 feet deep. “The method of using these pits is
as follows: great fires are first kindled in them, after which,
heated stones are thrown in; on these stones are laid, agave
leaves, sometimes to a depth of 2 to 3 feet. Fire is kindled
over this accumulation and by action of the heat below and
above, the leaves are roasted without being burnt.” (Fewkes)
Other plants and meats were also cooked in this type oven,
and many families could and did cook in one pit at the same
time by marking their food in some manner. From 24 to 36
hours were required to cook the mescal heart. Mescal heads
baked in this manner are somewhat like candied sweet potatoes.</p>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p11.jpg" alt="" width-obs="800" height-obs="666" /> <p class="pcap"><i>Close-up of the paintings in the Painted Grotto of Slaughter Canyon</i> (<i>photos courtesy of Lynn Coffin</i>)</p> </div>
<p>Occasionally the Mescaleros farmed. Most farming was
done to the north of the Park; but Rattlesnake Springs,
(source of the Park’s water supply), about 7 miles south of
<span class="pb" id="Page_29">29</span>
the Caverns entrance, is said to have been an Apache campsite,
and possibly some farming was done there.</p>
<p>The Mescalero Apaches show a curious mixture of culture
traits, both plains and western Apache. Following is a brief
summary of some of these that may be of interest.</p>
<p>They were great stalkers of game and frequently employed
the use of animal mask decoys, driving, game calls, and the
running down or wearing out of game. They smoked or
flooded rodents from their dens, set snares of rope for game,
and hunted from blinds or pits. Communal hunting was
supervised by a hunt master; and game, such as rabbits,
peccary, and buffalo were surrounded by people in a circle
and clubbed, shot or driven to hidden hunters, lassoed or
run over a cliff or bank. Dogs were used for hunting as well
as for watch dogs and pets.</p>
<p>Religious ceremony was practiced before, during, and
after the hunt. Prayers, songs, tobacco, pollen, and meat were
offered to the hunt deity; and an amulet for good hunting
was worn.</p>
<p>The Mescalero did not, as a rule, eat wildcat, wolf, coyote
or turkey vultures. Dogs, hawks, turkeys and eagles were kept
as pets. They were never eaten and were buried at death.
Sometimes plucked eagles were released alive. Tortoise, turtles,
and fish were eaten.</p>
<p>Hardwood digging sticks were used for gathering bulbs,
roots, etc., and a special stone knife was used for cutting
mescal. Seeds were collected on a blanket and carried in a
skin bag. Acorns were boiled like beans, parched (never
leached), shelled and ground on a metate or stone mortar
and stored in a skin bag. The meal was eaten with meat stew.
Mesquite and screwbean mesquite pods were pounded either
in stone or hide mortars; and the seeds were thrown away,
and the pod flour was soaked or boiled and the juice drunk,
eaten as mush, or stored in cake form.</p>
<p>Mescal heads were pit-roasted as mentioned; a buffalo
shoulder-blade was used as a shovel to scoop coals over the
pit. The fire was usually lit by a lucky person. The cooked
<span class="pb" id="Page_30">30</span>
head and leaf bases were pounded and dried on frames and
stored dry. Syrup was made from the flowers and the stalk
above the head was eaten.</p>
<p>Yucca fruit was eaten either cooked on coals or dried,
and the root stalk was used for soap. This pertained to practically
all of the yucca family. Most cacti fruit and some of
the pulp was eaten.</p>
<p>Pinon seeds were gathered and eaten raw, roasted or mashed
into a butter. Pinon pitch was chewed as gum. Walnuts,
wild plums, cherries, grass seeds, etc., tule and some greens
(cooked) were used. Fruit juices, mescal, mesquite, and sotol
juices were drunk either fresh, or boiled and fermented. In
later years a maize wine was made. Salt and honey were
gathered and used.</p>
<p>Meat was sliced, dried and made into pemmican; bone
marrow extracted; blood boiled in paunch and sausages were
made in gut. Meat food was stored either in skin bag, parfleche
or pot.</p>
<p>Little agriculture was practiced. Irrigation with ditches
from streams was known. Farming was confined to the sandy
soil in the stream bottom land. All farming was a man’s job
except the harvest when women helped. A two-handed planting
stick was used. Corn was eaten green, roasted or dried and
shelled by women. Two varieties of beans, pumpkins, squash
and gourds were grown. Gourds were used as canteens, dishes
and spoons.</p>
<p>Mescal harvest camps were sometimes set up in small caves,
but tipis or thatched wickiups were the permanent houses.
Tipis were three-pole foundation, buffalo hide with ventilator
flaps, faced east or downwind, and had a fireplace and smoke-hole
in the center. They were pegged to the ground, had a
covered door, and a dew-cloth inner liner. When moved,
they were carried on a travois or drag with horse.</p>
<p>Temporary lean-tos, shades, windbreaks, domed sweat houses,
log rafts and log bridges were built and used. Swimming
was done only when necessary, or when water was available.</p>
<p>Grass and agave hair brushes were made. Horn, wood and
<span class="pb" id="Page_31">31</span>
shell were used as containers. Knives, awls, and needles were
made from stone and bone. Wood was worked with stone hammers,
mauls, axes and fire. Stone was flaked, ground and
polished. Fire was made by stone or a pump drill.</p>
<p>Bows were made of mulberry, oak, juniper, walnut and
other woods. Bow strings were made of sinew and vegetable
fiber. Arrows of willow and other woods—points were stone.
Mescalero arrow points were supposedly stemmed base, or
the base was side notched. These types of projectile points
are common to the Carlsbad Basketmakers, too; so it is impossible
to differentiate the two when found. Undoubtedly,
those found on the Park fit into both cultures. Arrows were
feathered with three feathers from the eagle, hawk, turkey
and crow; and arrows were carried in an open-skinned, sewn
quiver of deerskin, mountain lion or wildcat. They were
carried on the back, under the arm, or on the belt.</p>
<p>Spears, shields, warbonnets (short, Plains type), armour of
hide and clubs were used in battle. Rabbitsticks of wood and
slingshots were also used.</p>
<p>Beads and ornaments were of shell, bone, wood, feathers,
seeds, claws and hooves, bear ears, turquoise, red stone,
cannel coal (jet), and porcupine quills. Paint from mineral
and vegetable sources was used for decorating objects or the
body, which was painted primarily to prevent sunburn.</p>
<p>The hair was worn full length by both men and women,
but beard and eyebrows were plucked completely with fingers
or tweezers of willowwood. During periods of mourning, hair
was cropped with a stone knife, sometimes to about the level
of the chin by women. Hair was worn loose, tied in a bunch
or with headband, in braids and decorated with pendants,
feathers, flowers, etc.</p>
<p>Ear lobes of children were pierced with a snakeweed stem,
and nose straightening was practiced on babies if nose was too
broad. There was no cradle deformation of the head known
among the Mescaleros.</p>
<p>Tattooing of the face and arms by these people was quite
an ancient practice, and was performed with cactus spines and
<span class="pb" id="Page_32">32</span>
black mineral pigment only, not charcoal as other tribes
might use.</p>
<p>Clothing consisted of fur caps, robes, shawls, ponchos, and
capes of animal skin with the hair either on or off the hide,
and woven vegetable fibers. Highly painted and fringed
buckskin-sleeved shirts were worn by the men. The women
wore buckskin gowns or dresses, painted and fringed. Buckskin
belts held up a skin wrapped around the waist to serve
as a kilt for the men, or skirts of buckskin for the women.
Hard-soled moccasins were worn by both sexes, while only
the men wore a hip-length buckskin leggin. Hide overshoes
were used in winter.</p>
<p>The winter bed was usually composed of a grass and hide
mattress with hide coverings, whereas the summer bed was a
willow rack or mat with a rawhide twining bedstead supported
by four forked posts covered with skins (Plains type).</p>
<p>Burdens were transported with the aid of a tump line back
pack or other slings, baskets, gourds, pottery, rawhide or
leather bags or containers and horse travois. Baskets (water-proofed
with pitch), mats, cradles, cordage of vegetable and
animal materials, including hair and pottery, were manufactured
by both men and women.</p>
<p>A variety of games were played by all, including foot racing,
shinny, hoop and pole, etc. Gambling by adults was done
with a hand game of guessing with bones, moccasin game,
drawing straws, dice, and heads or tails with flat stones (wet
or dry). The children played games of war, wrestled, and had
toys of guns, dolls, stones, etc.</p>
<p>Tobacco was gathered and smoked in an elbow pipe. Both
tobacco and pipe were kept in a buckskin bag which was
usually highly decorated.</p>
<p>The people assembled at the Chief’s dwelling or in an
open space. Unlike most Plains tribes, the Mescaleros did not
carry a medicine bundle but carried “medicine” inside themselves.</p>
<p>For music and ceremony there were rattles of gourds or horn,
drums of pottery and wood, a musical bow, whistles and flutes.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_33">33</div>
<p>The calendar was divided into four named seasons with
daily and monthly tallies kept on a notched stick. Counting
was done on the fingers, and some observations of astronomy
were made. Various colors were symbolic. East was black;
south, blue; west, yellow; and north, white. Their God,
Nayiizone, when coming from or going to the sky, rode on a
black ray to the east, on a blue horse to the south, on a yellow
(sorrel) horse to the west, and on a white horse to the north.</p>
<p>Mysticism, taboo, and definite procedure governed childbirth,
naming, education of the young, marriage, affinal relations,
death, mourning, labor by both sexes, slaves, land
ownership, personal property, war, scalping, dances, ceremonies,
political and clan organizations, peyote, kinship
systems, religion and shaman ritual.</p>
<p>Little is known about Mescalero pottery, except that it was
tempered with vegetable material, made only by women,
fired in an open fire, and made with pointed or rounded
bottom for inserting into fire coals, and perhaps decorated
with incised marks near the rim on occasion. The knowledge
of when this art was first practiced is unknown, but is logically
historic and very limited. No known sherds of this pottery
have been found on the Park.</p>
<p>In 1875, the Mescalero Apache Reservation was established
for the Mescalero and Lipan tribes; but in 1913, a band of
Geronimo’s Chiricahuas was released from Ft. Sill in Oklahoma
and came to Mescalero where they now reside.</p>
<p>Locally there is a rumor that the Apaches have a myth concerning
the bats of Carlsbad Caverns. The bats are said to be
an ancient lost war or hunting party, but research has failed to
verify this story. Most of the Western Apaches regard BAT
as an excellent horseman. The Chiricahua Apaches say, “If a
bat bites you, you had better never ride a horse any more. If
you do ride a horse after being bitten, you are just as good
as dead.” They were cautious of bats but not superstitious
of them.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_34">34</div>
<h2 id="c6"><span class="small">THE COMANCHES</span></h2>
<div class="fig">> <ANTIMG src="images/p12.jpg" alt="Human head" width-obs="400" height-obs="432" /></div>
<p>Originally the Comanches lived far to the north of southeastern
New Mexico; but about 1700, moved to the South
Plains. By this time they were well adapted to their relatively
new life of mobility brought about by the acquisition of horses
directly or indirectly, and by hook or crook from the Spanish.
With horses it was much easier to follow the buffalo, fight their
enemies, raid, and trade.</p>
<p>Comanche is a Ute Indian word meaning “enemy,” and it
is often felt that they found their way to New Mexico under
the tutelage of the Utes. Yet, sometime between 1747, and
April, 1749, the two became deadly enemies. After 1750, the
Utes joined the Apaches to fight the Comanches.</p>
<p>Actually, there are about 20 different names given for
Comanche, meaning everything from “enemies” to “snake
people.” The Ute definition is more fitting, however; for from
about 1705 to 1875, they raided and fought the Spanish, Utes,
Apaches, Pueblos, Texans and the U. S. Army among others.
They ranged from Kansas to Mexico in thirteen different bands.</p>
<p>That they were practical and businesslike is perhaps best
shown by their dealings with the French. The Comanches were
first contacted about 1725 by the French, who traded them
<span class="pb" id="Page_35">35</span>
guns and ammunition. Yet the Comanches would not let the
French cross their territory to trade with the Apaches and
others, thus monopolizing the source of firearms.</p>
<p>These Shoshonean speaking people were a true South
Plains horse Indian. They were often considered the finest
horsemen of the plains, these nomadic buffalo hunters who
lived in tipis of the skins from this animal. The Comanche
tongue was universally spoken by numerous other Indian
tribes of the South Plains; so little sign language was necessary,
as was the case farther north.</p>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p12a.jpg" alt="" width-obs="800" height-obs="586" /> <p class="pcap"><i>A general view of the rough terrain in the Carlsbad Caverns—Guadalupe Mountains area</i></p> </div>
<p>Buffalo were reported on the South Plains in 1540-41, by
the Spanish. As there was constant warfare between the
Comanches and the Apaches, it may well have started over
the bison.</p>
<p>The words fighting and Comanche go hand in hand. They
were spasmodically at war with most of their neighbors; yet
if peace and alliance achieved a goal, they would concede,
<span class="pb" id="Page_36">36</span>
as is shown in their relationship with the Kiowa. Bitter enemies,
these two, until 1790, when an alliance was made which
lasted until sometime in the 1870s. Together they raided the
Spanish, Pueblos, Apaches, and their first real enemy, the
Anglo-Americans of Texas.</p>
<p>Although the Park and Guadalupe Mountains area was not
part of the Comanches positive range, which lay north, east
and southeast of the Pecos River, it was frequently crossed
by hunting and raiding parties. There is no reason to assume
that the Kiowas did not accompany them from time to time,
especially when raiding into Mexico.</p>
<p>These “Lords of the South Plains,” as they were later called,
looked and dressed every bit the now “Hollywood” Indian. In
costumes of buckskins or buffalo hide, decorated with beads
and gewgaws, wearing the typical warbonnet, the Comanches
ruled a tremendous portion of the South Plains for 175 years.
(See <SPAN href="#fig1">Map</SPAN>.) They were fearless fighters who rescued their dead
and wounded in battle, who on occasion used poison from an
unknown plant on their arrow-points, or stuck them in a dead,
ripe skunk to create the same effect; and were great thieves
and gamblers. The successful theft of horses from the enemy
was a high mark of prestige to a man; yet this same man
could and did lose his spoils to other Comanches through the
media of dice and hand games.</p>
<p>The Comanches were one of the few tribes of the South
Plains who did not eat dog or human flesh. Their religion
contained the belief of an after life in a “Happy Hunting
Ground” beyond the sun. Naturally, these people utilized
many wild plants. One among these that grows in the Park
is mescal, which was used as a drug. (Quite a contrast to the
Apaches, this.)</p>
<p>A valiant but bloody chapter in the history of the Southwest
was closed in June, 1875, when the Comanches surrendered
to the U. S. Army at Ft. Sill, and went on to a reservation in
the then Indian Territory of Oklahoma. It is said the introduction
of the Colt revolver, in the hands of the Texas
Rangers, was the deciding factor toward their surrender.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_37">37</div>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/p13.jpg" alt="" width-obs="800" height-obs="228" /> <p class="pcap">THE INDIANS OF <br/>CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK <br/>TIME RANGE</p>
</div>
<table class="center" summary="">
<tr><td class="l">Early Man </td><td class="l">25,000-15,000 B.P.? — 2,000 B.C.?</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">Carlsbad Basketmakers </td><td class="l">2000 B.C.? — 1750 A.D.?</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">Pueblo Culture Influence </td><td class="l">1000 B.C.? —</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">Mescalero Apache </td><td class="l">1300 A.D.? —</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">Comanche </td><td class="l">1700 A.D.? —</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">Kiowa </td><td class="l">1800 A.D.? —</td></tr>
</table>
<div class="pb" id="Page_38">38</div>
<h2 id="c7"><span class="small">BIBLIOGRAPHY</span></h2>
<br/>Bailey, Vernon—<i>Animal Life of the Carlsbad Cavern</i>, 1928.
<br/>Bourke, John G.—<i>Medicine Men of the Apache</i>, B.A.E. #9, 1887-88.
<br/>Colton, Harold S. and Hargrave, L. L.—<i>Handbook of Northern Arizona Pottery Types</i>, MNA, 1937.
<br/>Cosgrove, C. B.—<i>Caves of the Upper Gila and Hueco Areas in New Mexico and Texas</i>, Papers of the Peabody Museum, 1947.
<br/>Dodge, Natt N.—<i>Flowers of the Southwest Deserts</i>, SMA, 1952.
<br/>Ferdon, Edwin N., Jr.—<i>An Excavation of Hermit’s Cave, New Mexico</i>, 1946.
<br/>Fewkes, J. W.—<i>Casa Grande Arizona, Antiquities of the Upper Verde River and Walnut Creek, Arizona</i>, B.A.E. #28, 1906-07.
<br/>Gale, Bennett T.—<i>Historical Sketch Carlsbad Caverns National Park</i>, manuscript, 1952.
<i>Carlsbad Caverns—An Interpretation of Their Origin and Development</i>, manuscript.
<br/>Gifford, E. W.—<i>Culture Element Distributions: XII Apache-Pueblo</i>, Anthropological Records, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1940.
<br/>Hawley, Florence M.—<i>Field Manual of Prehistoric Southwestern Pottery Types</i>, U. of N. M., 1936.
<br/>Henshaw, Henry W.—<i>Animal Carvings from the Mounds of the Mississippi Valley</i>, B.A.E. #2, 1880-81.
<br/>Howard, E. B.—<i>Caves Along the Slopes of the Guadalupe Mountains</i>, Bul. Texas Arch. and Pal. Soc., Vol. 4, 1932.
<br/>Jennings, J. D.—<i>A Variation of Southwestern Pueblo Culture</i>, Lab. of Anth., Tech. Series, Bul. #10, 1940.
<br/>Lehmer, Donald J.—<i>The Jornada Branch of the Mogollon</i>, U. of Ariz. SS Bul. #17, 1948.
<br/>Mallery, Garrick—<i>Picture Writing of the American Indians</i>, B.A.E. #10, 1888-89.
<br/>McGee, W. J.—<i>The Seri Indians</i>, B.A.E. #17, Part 2, 1895-96.
<br/>Mera, H. P.—<i>An Outline of Ceramic Developments in Southern and Southeastern New Mexico</i>, Lab. of Anth., Tech. Series, Bul. #11.
<i>Reconnaissance and Excavation in Southeastern New Mexico</i>, AAA Memoir #51, 1938.
<br/>Mooney, James—<i>Myths of the Cherokee</i>, B.A.E. #19, 1897-98.
<i>The Ghost Dance Religion</i>, B.A.E. #14, 1892-93.
<i>Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians</i>, B.A.E. #17, 1895-96.
<br/>Neumann, George—<i>Analysis of the Skeletal Material</i>, Lab. of Anth., Tech. Series, Bul. #10, 1940.
<br/>Opler, Morris Edward—<i>An Apache Life-Way</i>, 1941.
<br/>Pearce, Dr. J. E.—<i>Kitchen Middens</i>, Bul. Texas Arch. and Pal. Soc., Vol. 4, 1932—See also Victor J. Smith.
<br/>Reed, Erik—<i>Historical Narrative and Archaeological Values</i>, Interpretive Section, Master Plan, Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
<br/>Roth, W. E.—<i>Animism and Folklore of Guiana Indians</i>, B.A.E. #30, 1908-09.
<br/>Schmitt, Martin F. and Brown, Dee—<i>Fighting Indians of the West</i>, 1948.
<br/>Swanton, John R.—<i>The Indian Tribes of North America</i>, B.A.E. Bul. 145, 1952.
<br/>Thomas, Alfred Barnaby—<i>The Plains Indians and New Mexico 1751-1778</i>, 1940.
<br/>Wallace, Ernest and Hoebel, E. Adamson—<i>The Comanches</i>, U. of Okla., 1952.
<br/>Williams, Jack R.—<i>Papago</i>, manuscript, 1952.
<h2 id="c8"><span class="small">FOOTNOTES</span></h2>
<div class="fnblock"><div class="fndef"><SPAN class="fn" id="fn_1" href="#fr_1">[1]</SPAN>Unfortunately, the National Park Service has been unable to obtain any of
these burials. However, Vernon Bailey in his <i>Animal Life of Carlsbad Cavern</i>
points out that they were found. (Also, this has been corroborated by writings
of the late Carl B. Livingston, well known attorney, writer, historian, and an
outstanding authority on history and prehistory of New Mexico. Too, present and
former employees of the National Park Service who played an important part in
the early stages of the development and operation of the Carlsbad Caverns National
Park are familiar with the evidences of prehistoric man found in and
around the Caverns. T. Cal Miller.)</div>
</div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p14.jpg" alt="Hunting" width-obs="500" height-obs="374" /></div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p15.jpg" alt="Early Man, Carlsba Baketmaker, Mescalero Apache, Comanche, Kiowa" width-obs="500" height-obs="772" /></div>
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