THE ANCIENT BASKET MAKERS OF SOUTHEASTERN 
UTAH. 
By Greorse H. Pepper, 
Assistant in the Department of Anthropology. 
THE southwestern part of the United States is noted archzo- 
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 archeology 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 thé 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 
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