The Pueblo I Period: A.D. 750 to 900

Food

Turkey. Pen-and-ink drawing by Lee R. Schmidlap, Jr.

Turkeys were fully domesticated by the Pueblo I period.

During this period, agriculture became an increasingly important part of the Pueblo lifestyle. With the population not only growing but also becoming more concentrated in villages, it was essential that people produced a surplus of food. Abundant harvests in good years could be stored for bad years, when drought or cold temperatures—or both—reduced the harvest.

Corn and beans were the dietary mainstays during the Pueblo I period. Squash was grown as well, and turkeys by this time were fully domesticated. People during the Pueblo I period continued to supplement their diet with wild plants and animals, and archaeological evidence suggests that these resources were sometimes depleted in the areas surrounding large villages, the result of over-collecting and over-hunting by village residents.

Corn, beans, and squash. Photographs by Joyce Heuman Kramer and (corn inset) Joyce Alexander; copyright Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.

Corn, beans, and squash continued to be dietary staples during the Pueblo I period.


Introduction	Paleoindian Archaic Basketmaker II Basketmaker III Pueblo I Pueblo II Pueblo III Post-Pueblo Historic Today Bibliography ● Take Our Survey ●
Overview Food Housing Artifacts	The Pueblo I Period: A.D. 750 to 900 Food Turkeys were fully domesticated by the Pueblo I period. During this period, agriculture became an increasingly important part of the Pueblo lifestyle. With the population not only growing but also becoming more concentrated in villages, it was essential that people produced a surplus of food. Abundant harvests in good years could be stored for bad years, when drought or cold temperatures—or both—reduced the harvest. Corn and beans were the dietary mainstays during the Pueblo I period. Squash was grown as well, and turkeys by this time were fully domesticated. People during the Pueblo I period continued to supplement their diet with wild plants and animals, and archaeological evidence suggests that these resources were sometimes depleted in the areas surrounding large villages, the result of over-collecting and over-hunting by village residents. Corn, beans, and squash continued to be dietary staples during the Pueblo I period.
Acknowledgments \| Illustration credits \| To borrow, cite, or request permission \| Please take our survey! Title page for Peoples of the Mesa Verde Region Copyright © 2011 by Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. All rights reserved.