It probably has never occurred to you how you would cook your food without pots or pans. It is taken for granted every day the luxury of cooking utensils. Cooking was revolutionized by the Anasazi Indian tribe around 1000AD. Pottery was designed to be set directly on the fire. Farmers should be thankful to the Hohokam Indian’s who first created the irrigation system. Because of their knowledge of architecture, irrigation and talent in pottery, along with their influence in language and religion, the ancient Indians of the desert west have greatly influenced today’s society.
The prehistoric peoples of the Four Corners region shared common roots, but different adaptations to regional variations in environment, climate and resources, together with different levels of Mesoamerican influence, resulted in formation of the three primary cultures known today as the Southwest Tradition: the Mogollon, the Hohokam and the Anasazi.
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Our impression that the Mogollon viewed life from a powerful and pervasive spiritual perspective is reinforced by object found which appear to be sacred. These included, for example, ceremonial "prayer" sticks (or pahos), ceremonial pipes, ritual bows and arrows, animal effigies, bear and mountain lion fetishes, feathers, plants, crystals and semi-precious minerals. .
Archaeologists suspect, for one example, that shamans may have produced pahos for use in ceremonies. In carving a paho, a shaman sharpened the bottom end to a point. He decorated the shaft with elaborate geometric designs. He often adorned the top end with a pulley-shaped disk which served as a platform for a small mushroom-shaped carving. In other instances, a shaman topped a paho with a masked human figure.
Archaeologists also have found some evidence which suggests that Mogollon shamans used psychoactive plants to induce trances, a state which conveyed them into the spirit world. Seeds of the sacred datura have been found , they were a powerful...