the Mesa Verde Story
FROM MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK—SOUTHWEST COLORADO
Diorama Series
Mesa Verde National Park Museum
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Diorama No. 1
EARLY MAN IN NORTH AMERICA
This diorama pictures a hunt such as may have takenplace 10 or 12 thousand years ago in what is now northeasternNew Mexico. In 1926, 1927 and 1928, the bones of30 bison of an extinct species were dug out of the bed ofan arroyo near the little town of Folsom, New Mexico.Associated with the bison bones were 19 spear points ofan unusual type. The place where the bones and spearpoints were found had once been a water hole or marshand men probably killed the bison when they came todrink or to wallow. They skinned the animals, cut off whatflesh they wanted and left the carcasses in the mud. Sometimesspear points were lost or were left in the bodies andthese points, preserved with the bones, tell the story ofthe early hunts.
The unusual spear points are now called Folsom Pointsand the men who made and used them are often referredto as Folsom Men. Other spear points of distinctive typeshave also been found with the bones of extinct animalsand it indicates that there were many different groups ofearly men in America.
Men began to drift into America at least 15,000 yearsago. They came from the north, crossing from Asia toAlaska, then moved to the south. These early men werehunters and their spear points, knives, scrapers and otherstone tools have been found associated with the bones ofelephants, mammoths, camels, horses and certain typesof bison which have been extinct in America many thousandsof years.
Little is known about these early inhabitants of NorthAmerica. They lived by hunting and by gathering seeds,fruit and roots of wild plants. They had no permanentdwellings and moved about, following the game on whichthey lived. Pottery was unknown and their utensils andcontainers were made of animal skins. Cooking must havebeen done over the open fire although they may have beenable to cook some foods by dropping hot stones into skincontainers. Many primitive people have cooked in thismanner.
Few human bones have been found, so little is knownabout the appearance or race of these early men.