The people also were gatherers and hunters to some extent. Remains of hackberries, mesquite beans, black walnuts, and sego-lily bulbs have been found in the cliff dwellings. Mescal or agave (sometimes called century plant) was used. Small wads or “quids” of fiber from this plant have been found; they were chewed by the Indians to extract the sweet juices.

Although identifiable animal bones from Montezuma Castle and nearby dwellings are rare, they have been found in other pueblos in the valley. From a site about 10 miles away, bones of elk, mule deer, antelope, bear, rabbit, turtle, and fish have been recovered.

Some food for winter use must have been held in storage. Probably the Castle dwellers, like the modern Hopis, stacked mature corn on the cob across the end of a room like cordwood. Strings of squash, cut into rings and dried in the sun, were probably strung from the roof in an out-of-the-way corner. Meat was undoubtedly preserved in a similar fashion—by drying rather than smoking or salting it. Perhaps the stores of food and the seed held for the next spring’s planting were sought by neighboring pueblos where crops may have failed. As pointed out earlier, food shortages could have provided one of the principal reasons for intervillage warfare, especially after 1300 when the area became overcrowded.

Cooking fires were kindled by the friction of a wooden spindle rotated in a hearth stick until enough heat was generated to ignite tinder. Perhaps some family in Montezuma Castle was responsible for maintaining a perpetual fire from which embers could be carried to other households. This is not so strange when we recall that only 100 years ago pioneer neighbors sometimes called on each other to borrow a coal of fire.

These Sinagua Indians were artisans who manufactured pottery, and stone and shell ornaments. Their pottery was a reddish-brown ware (so colored from minerals in the native clay) and it was usually undecorated, though sometimes painted red. Sand was used as a tempering or binding agent. They made pottery bowls, cooking pots, and water jars—some of the latter of 3- or 4-gallon capacity. In refuse dumps near the dwellings, archeologists have found quantities of broken pottery—it is principally through a study of these dumps that the chronology of Indian occupation in this area is revealed.

Pottery was made from clay found in the region. After the clay was pulverized, the correct amounts of water and tempering materials were added. There were no potter’s wheels, so the vessels were shaped by hand. The Sinagua accomplished this with the aid of a stone “anvil” held inside the pot and a wooden paddle used against the outside. Finishing was usually done by rubbing the surface perfectly smooth with a polishing stone or pebble dipped in water. Although some Indian pottery has a high polish, none of it carries a true, over-all glaze.

Modern Indians, in firing their pottery, usually burn animal dung for fuel, but the pre-Columbian Indians used vegetable material, possibly juniper wood. Several pieces of pottery might be stacked together so that all would be evenly exposed to the heat of the fire. Large pieces of broken pottery were used to protect the new pieces from direct contact with the flames. The firing process required several hours, with time allowed for the pottery to cool slowly.

Stone and shell ornaments are examples of other crafts, and some beautiful specimens have been found. The shells came from the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of California and are believed to have been imported through trade with neighboring tribes. Prehistoric trade routes, over which specific types of shells were distributed, extended from the Gulfs of Mexico and California to north-central New Mexico and from the Pacific Ocean to southern Utah.

The shell was worked in various ways. The tips were ground from olivella shells which were then strung on sinew and worn as beads. Larger shells were sometimes covered with a mosaic of turquoise and colored stones. The turquoise was mined with stone tools, and by the time it was removed from its matrix, cut, and polished, it represented a considerable investment of labor. Argillite found in the Verde River region was also mined. Lac, an insect secretion found on creosote bushes, was sometimes used to cement the turquoise and argillite to the shell base.

The Sinagua also excelled in the art of weaving. They wove sandals, baskets, mats, and cotton fabrics. Some of the latter exhibit lace-like open work while other pieces are tightly woven resembling modern canvas. Cotton was raised here, near the fields of corn, and woven by the Sinagua into the finished articles. A few cotton bolls with lint and seeds have been found in the dwellings.

Instead of spinning wheels, the Indians used a wooden spindle about the thickness of a lead pencil and perhaps 18 inches long. About 5 or 6 inches from one end there was a disc- or sphere-shaped counterweight made from a piece of wood or pottery. Corded cotton was spun into yarn by feeding it onto the end of the spindle as it was twirled between the thumb and fingers, or, between the hand and the thigh as the spinner sat on the ground.

Among the modern Indians of the Southwest, the most and the best weaving is done by the Navajo, an Apache people who learned weaving only a few hundred years ago from the Pueblos. Modern Navajo weaving is done by the women. Weaving among modern Pueblos, notably the Hopi, is done by men; and ancient weaving of pre-Spanish Pueblos may have been men’s work also.