48 ANIMAL LIFE OF CARLSBAD CAVERN 



Pottery clay of excellent quality and various colors is 

 found in many of the caves, and in the great Carlsbad 

 Cavern it lies in deep beds, moist and ready to be 

 moulded into household utensils. Bits of broken 

 pottery observed around the mouth of the cave and in 

 the old mescal pits show good workmanship and varied 

 patterns and designs of decoration. 



To what extent paints and dyes were used can not 

 be fully known, nor can the source of supply, but beds 

 of bright red and yellow clays are found at no great 

 distance. The black designs so common on the pottery 

 may have been of mineral origin, or charcoal burned 

 into the clay. 



Native plant dyes are varied enough to stimulate 

 the artistic senses so marked in some and deficient in 

 other tribes of primitive peoples. 



So far as known at present, this cave region was the 

 stronghold of the warlike Apaches from the time of 

 Coronado in 1540 until about 1870 when they were 

 driven out by the white settlers. How far back their 

 occupancy reaches, or who lived there before them, is 

 not well known, but it is little wonder that they fought 

 long and savagely for their land of comfort and plenty. 



