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THE ANCIENT BASKET MAKERS OF SOUTHEASTERN 



UTAH. 



BY GEORGE H. PEPPER, 

 Assistant in the Department of Anthropology. 



THE southwestern part of the United States is noted archaeo- 

 logically for its cliff dwellings and pueblos. The cliff-houses are 

 more numerous in Colorado, Utah and Arizona, but the largest 

 group of ruined pueblos is situated in one of the broad canons of 

 northwestern New Mexico. These homes of the ancient people, 

 though differing greatly in form and situation, as well as the cave 

 lodges and boulder houses of the old river beds, were doubtless 

 the result of environment, and were probably, to a certain ex- 

 tent, occupied contemporaneously. The numerous problems 

 suggested by these ruins have been studied by careful investi- 

 gators, and exploration work has served to verify many hypo- 

 thetical conclusions and to disprove as many more ; but the work 

 may continue indefinitely, for each season brings to light some 

 new problems of importance, and it is one of these that will be 

 considered in this paper. 



The Wetherill family of Mancos, Colorado, have been closely 

 associated with the archaeology of the Southwest for nearly a 

 quarter of a century, and they have had the honor of bringing 

 before the public the great Cliff- Dweller region of Colorado and 

 Utah. They have been untiring in their efforts as collectors and 

 are keen observers. Richard, the eldest son, was the leader of 

 most of the exploring trips, and it was he who found, in the 

 Grand Gulch region of southeastern Utah, the skeletons of an 

 ancient people, whose skulls were markedly different from those 

 of the Cliff Dwellers, and who named this new people the ' ' Basket 

 Makers." Two gentlemen, Messrs. McLoyd and Graham, fol- 

 lowed the pioneers and made a representative collection of the 

 objects and utensils of the Basket people. It is from accounts 

 of the region given by the last named explorers, supplementing 

 the statements of the Wetherill brothers, whom I consider 



