2011.06.06 12:24
History of the People of Mesa Verde Mesa Verde National Park preserves a spectacular reminder of the 1,000 year culture of the Ancestral Puebloans. Archeologists have called this people Anasazi, from the Navaho word that means "ancient". They are now called Ancestral Puebloans, reflecting their modern descendants. The first Ancestral Puebloans settled in Mesa Verde(Spanish for "green table") about AD 550. They are know as Basketmakers because of their impressive skill at that craft. Formally a nomadic people, they were now beginning to lead a more settled way of life. Farming replaced hunting-and-gathering as their main source of livelihood. They lived in pithouses clustered in small villages, which they usually built on the mesa tops, but occasionally in the cliff recesses. They soon learned how to make pottery and they acquired the bow and arrow, a more efficient weapon for hunting than the atlati (spear thrower). The pithouse represents the beginning of a settled way of life based on agriculture. Its basic features were a living room, squarish in shape and sunk down a few feet into the ground, four main timbers at the corners to support the roof, a fire pit with an air deflector, an antechamber, which might contain storage bins or pits, and a sipapu. Pithouses evolved into kivas of later times. In Mesa Verde, the people lived in this type of dwelling from about 550 to 750. These were fairly prosperous times for the Basketmakers, and their population multiplied. About 750 they began building houses above ground, with upright walls made out of poles and mud. They built these houses one against another in long, curving rows, often with a pithouse or two in front. The pithouses were probably the forerunners of the kivas of later time. From then on, these people were known as Pueblos, a Spanish word for village dwellers. By 1000, the people of Mesa Verde had advanced from pole-and-adobe construction to skillful stone masonry. Their walls of thick, double-coursed stone often rose two or three stories high and were joined together into units of 50 rooms or more. Pottery also changed, as black drawings on a white background replaced simple designs on dull gray. Farming provided more of the diet than before and much mesatop land was cleared for that purpose. The years from 1100 to 1300 were Mesa Verde's Classic Period. The population may have reached several thousand. It was mostly concentrated in compact villages of many rooms, often with the kivas built inside the enclosing walls rather than out in the open. Round towers began to appear, and there was a rising level of craftsmanship in masonry work, pottery, weaving, jewelry, and even tool making. The stone walls of the large pueblos are regarded as the finest ever built in Mesa Verde; they are made of carefully shaped stones laid up in straight courses. The mortar between blocks was a mix of mud and water. Rooms averaged about 6 foot by 8 foot, space enough for two or three persons. Isolated rooms in the rear and on the upper levels were generally used for storing crops. Much of the daily routine took place in the open courtyards in front of the rooms. Pottery was fashioned there, as well as various tools - knives, axes, awls, scrapers - made from stone and bone. Baskets show evidence of decline in quality but this may be due to the wide spread use of pottery and consequence less attention to the craft. Fires built in the summer were mainly for cooking. In winter, when the alcove rooms were damp and uncomfortable, fires probably burned throughout the village. Smoke-blackened walls and ceilings are reminders of the biting cold these people lived with for several months each year. Clothing closely followed the seasons. In summer the adults probably wore simple loincloths and sandals. In the winter, they dressed in hides and skins and wrapped themselves against the cold in blankets made of turkey feathers and robes of rabbit fur. The Ancestral Puebloans spent much of their time getting food, even in the best of years. Farming was the main business of these people, but they supplemented their crops of corn, beans and squash by gathering wild plants and hunting deer, rabbits, squirrels, and other game. Their only domestic animals were dogs and turkeys. Fortunately for us, the Ancestral Puebloans tossed their trash close by. Scraps of food, broken pottery and tools, anything unwanted, went down the slopes in front of their homes. Much of what we know about their daily life here comes from these garbage heaps. The Ancestral Puebloans used all available materials, without any metal of any kind. They skillfully fashioned stone, bone and wood into a variety of tools for grinding, cutting, chopping, weaving, scraping and polishing. They used the digging stick for farming, the stone axe for clearing the land, the bow and arrow for hunting and sharp edged stones for cutting. They ground corn with the metate and mano and made wooden spindle whorls for weaving. From bones they fashioned awls for sewing and scraping. They usually made their stone tools from stream cobble rather than soft sandstone of the cliffs. The finest baskets produced by the Mesa Verde people were made before they learned how to make pottery. Using the spiral twilled technique, they wove handsomely decorated baskets of many sizes and shapes and used them for carrying water, storing grain, and even cooking. They water proofed their baskets by lining them with pitch and cooked in them by dropping heated stones into the water. The most common coiling material was split willow, but sometimes rabbitbush or skunkbush was used. After the introduction of pottery about AD 550, basketry declined. The few baskets found here from the Classic Period is inferior to those made earlier. The people of Mesa Verde were accomplished potters. They made vessels of all kinds; pots, bowls, canteens, ladies jars, and mugs. Corrugated ware was used mostly for cooking and storage; the elaborately decorated black-on-white ware may have had ceremonial, as well as everyday uses. Women were probably the potters of the community. Their designs tended to be personal and local, and most likely were passed down from mother to daughter. Design elements changed slowly, a characteristic that helps archeologists and modern descendants track the location and composition of early populations. Archeology has yielded some information about the ancient people of Mesa Verde, but without written record there is no way to be sure about their social, political, or religious ideas. We must rely for insight on comparisons with the modern Pueblo people of New Mexico and Arizona. In Classic times Mesa Verde, several generations probably lived together as a household. Each family occupied several rooms and built additional ones as it grew. Several related families constituted a clan which was probably matrilineal (descent through the female line) in organization. If the analogy with current Hopi practice is correct, each clan had its own kiva and rights to its own agricultural plots. Mesa Verde's economy was more complex than it might appear to be at first glance. Even within a small agricultural community, there undoubtedly were persons more skilled than others at weaving or leather-working or making pottery, arrowpoints, jewelry, baskets, sandals, or other specialized articles. Their efficiency gave them a surplus, which they shared or bartered with their neighbors. This exchange went on between communities too. Seashells from the Pacific coast and turquoise, pottery, and cotton from the south were some of the item that found their way to Mesa Verde, passed along from village to village or carried by traders on foot over a far-flung network of trails. About 1200 there was another major population shift. The people began to move back into the cliff alcoves that had sheltered their ancestors long centuries before. Perhaps it was for defense; perhaps the alcoves offered better protection from the elements; perhaps there were religious or psychological reasons. Whatever the reason or combination of reasons, it gave rise to the cliff dwellers for which Mesa Verde is most famous. Most of the cliff dwellings were built from the late 1190's to the late 1270's. They range in size from one-room houses to villages of more than 200 rooms - Cliff Palace. Architecturally, there is no standard ground plan. The builders fit their structures to the available space. Most walls were single courses of stone, perhaps because the alcove roofs limited heights and also protected them from erosion by the weather. The masonry work varied in quality; rough construction can be found alongside walls with well-shaped stones. Many rooms were plastered on the inside and decorated with painted designs. Kiva is a Hopi word for ceremonial room. The kiva at Mesa Verde were underground chambers that may be compared to churches of later times. Based upon modern Pueblo practices, Ancestral Puebloans may have used these rooms to conduct healing rites or to pray for rain, luck in hunting, or good crops. Kivas also serve as gathering places, and sometimes as a place to weave. A roof of beams and mud covered each kiva, supported by pilasters. Access was by ladder through a hole in the center of the roof. The small hole in the floor is a sipapu, the symbolic entrance to the underworld. The Ancestral Puebloans lived in the cliff dwellings for less than 100 years. By about 1300 Mesa Verde was deserted. There are several theories about the reason for their migration. We know that the last quarter of the century was a time of drought and crop failures, but these people had survived earlier droughts. Maybe after hundreds of years of intense use, the land and its resources - the soil, forests, and animals - were depleted. Perhaps there were social and political problems, and the people looked for new opportunities elsewhere. When the people of Mesa Verde left, they traveled south into New Mexico and Arizona, settling among their kin already there. Whatever happened, some of today's Pueblo people, and perhaps other tribes, are descendants of the cliff dwellers of Mesa Verde. |
2011.06.06 14:22
2011.06.06 16:02
2011.06.06 17:21
기식 님;
인디안들은 우리가 아는 체계적 종교는 없는걸로 알고있읍니다.
고대 한국사회처럼 Shamanism과 미신, 자연숭배로 살었던 걸로 알고있읍니다.
American Indians는 우리와 같이 Mongolian spot이 있지요. 즉 우리의 사촌입니다.
그때도 미국전역에 Indian들이 살었지요. 동부의 비옥한 땅, 중부의 풍만한 땅에도 모두 곳곳에
인디안들이 일종의 부족사회를 이루고 농경사회로 살었지요.
단지 서부 사막에서는 계절에 따라서 이주하면서 사는 인디안들이 살었던거지요.
그중에서 Pueblo인디안의 조상벌이 되는 Anasazi 인디안이 Mesa Verde에 처음으로 농경사회를 이루고
이동하지 않고 한자리에 살었던 것입니다. 그런면에서 Mesa Verde가 의미가 있는것입니다.
그런데 1300 AD 경에, 이들이 무슨 이유에서인지, 600 여년동안 지켜온그 자리를 떠나서
다시 유목인들이 되지 않었나하는 수수꺼끼가 남아있는것이지요.
쫗은곳을 몰라서보다는, 좋건 나쁘건 각자 자기네의 영토를 지키고 살어간 모양입니다.
유목민들은 문화와 유적을 남길수 없지요.
사막의 모래밭에 남긴 발자취는 한번 지나간후 바람에 사라지니, 그 사람네들은 자취를 남기지 않고
살아간 사람들이지요. 그런데 기적적으로 Mesa Verde에 그들중의 한 부족이 자취를 남겼지요.
그래서 후세 사람들이 여기에 국립공원을 만들어 보호하고 있지요.
미국사람들은 좀 이상한 사람들입니다. 인디안들은 마치 동물처럼 수태 쏴죽이고 나서,
그들의 문화유산을 보존할려고 애쓰고 있지요 ???
하긴, 본인이나 기식님이 남긴 발자욱도 언제는 바람과함께 사라질것이니, 그게 다 그런겁니다.
그래서 우리는 남이 남긴 발자취를 더 소중하게 여기면서 쳐다보는지도 모르지요.
사진 slideshow의 단점의 하나는 이런 모든것을 써넣을자리가 없다는것이죠.
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Notice | How to use Rich Text Editor [3] | 2016.06.28 | 운영자 | 2018.10.19 | 5897 |
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1702 | 지리산에 인삼 좀 심어놓고 [3] | 2011.06.12 | 김창현#70 | 2011.06.12 | 4980 |
1701 | K-Pop Invasion into Europe [7] | 2011.06.12 | 운영자 | 2011.06.12 | 4503 |
1700 | 일반인을 위한 디카에 관한 상식 | 2011.06.11 | 조의열*66 | 2011.06.11 | 5058 |
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1698 | [Slideshow] Sunrise at the Grand Canyon [3] | 2011.06.10 | 운영자 | 2011.06.10 | 3812 |
1697 | Where are we safe from Nature ? [3] | 2011.06.10 | Rover | 2011.06.10 | 5179 |
1696 | [Medical Column] 1. 심장 돌연사 | 2011.06.10 | 이종구*57 | 2011.06.10 | 3897 |
1695 | 7 Things to Consider When Using Credit Cards Overseas [2] | 2011.06.09 | 운영자 | 2011.06.09 | 3670 |
1694 | [Essay] 캐더린 앤 포터 | 2011.06.07 | 정유석*64 | 2011.06.07 | 5051 |
1693 | [Essay] '바보들의 배' | 2011.06.07 | 정유석*64 | 2011.06.07 | 5021 |
1692 | [단편] A Nervous Breakdown by Anton Chekhov [2] | 2011.06.06 | 운영자 | 2011.06.06 | 2138 |
» | [Slideshow] Mesa Verde National Park [3] | 2011.06.06 | 운영자 | 2011.06.06 | 3525 |
1690 | Blind Drivers Hit The Road, due to Dr. Hong [3] | 2011.06.06 | 이기우*71문리대 | 2011.06.06 | 7455 |
1689 | [Essay] 신형 '바버리 맨' | 2011.06.05 | 정유석*64 | 2011.06.05 | 5134 |
1688 | [Essay] '신경쇠약' [1] | 2011.06.05 | 정유석*64 | 2011.06.05 | 5513 |
1687 | [Essay in Retirement] June, 2011 [2] | 2011.06.05 | 장원호#guest | 2011.06.05 | 2751 |
1686 | [Medical Column] 4. 협심증의 치료 | 2011.06.05 | 이종구*57 | 2011.06.05 | 4341 |
1685 | 도로시 파커의 음주벽과 말년 [1] | 2011.06.04 | 정유석*64 | 2011.06.04 | 7523 |
1684 | 도로시 파커의 등단과 작품세계 [1] | 2011.06.04 | 정유석*64 | 2011.06.04 | 7067 |
1683 | [Essay] 오페라 '루치아'의 광란에 대한 해석 [2] | 2011.06.04 | 정유석*64 | 2011.06.04 | 9017 |
2010년 11월초에 들렸던 곳입니다.
40년전에 잠간들렸었는데 지금은 아주 많이 좋게 바꾸어졌더군요.
애석하게도 이들은 글이 없어서 전혀 남은 기록이 없지요.
600 년동안 바위밑 낭떠러지에 아무도 모르게 숨겨있었던 신비의 유적입니다.
후세의 고고학자들이 땅을파고 쓰레기와 유적을 뒤져서 American Indians의 역사를 꾸몄지만
아직도 흐릿한게 너무 많지요.
우리도 漢字가 없었다면 이런 신세가 되었을가?
우리의 훈민정음이 나온것은 세종 25년(1443 AD) 였으므로,
Anasazi Indians (ancient Puebloan) 들이 Mesa Verde를 버리고 떠난지 100년후가 되지요.