This booklet was prepared as an elementary basis for those interested in the Indians of this section. It is far from complete but if it answers only one question—the effort was well spent. It is rare that research into any subject is done alone. This is no exception, for many are responsible in their contributions. First, without the help, comments and criticism of Erik Reed this paper would have been nought. Then thanks must go to Charlie Steen and Stanley Stubbs for their pottery identificatio

About all we can say for Early Man and the Park is that he was here. The only material remains found was a Folsom-like projectile point. This point was discovered in Burnet Cave in the Guadalupe Mountains in direct association with extinct animal bones. What he looked like, we have no idea; but he was apparently a nomadic hunter and follower of game. Because he followed game is probably the main reason he arrived here from Asia in late Pleistocene times—15 to 25,000 years ago. He hunted the now

The true occupants of Carlsbad Caverns National Park were a group of Indians known as “Basketmakers.” They may have been descendants of the early people, or perhaps a new and distinct group. This name was applied because these people made excellent baskets and other woven objects, and had some similarity in culture traits to the San Juan Basketmakers or Anasazi of the Four Corners area. Moreover, there is some similarity in culture traits to the Big Bend Basketmakers of Texas and the Ozark Bluff

From the north they came, this much we know, and comparatively recently. About 600 years ago many tribes of Apaches slowly worked their way southward, following the game and gathering the wild plant food, eventually ranging over a great land area from the Pecos River on the east to the borders of the Papago country in southern Arizona on the west; from Colorado to northern Mexico, to the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. The Apaches, members of the Athapascan linguistic family, were first recorded histor

Originally the Comanches lived far to the north of southeastern New Mexico; but about 1700, moved to the South Plains. By this time they were well adapted to their relatively new life of mobility brought about by the acquisition of horses directly or indirectly, and by hook or crook from the Spanish. With horses it was much easier to follow the buffalo, fight their enemies, raid, and trade. Comanche is a Ute Indian word meaning “enemy,” and it is often felt that they found their way to New Mexic