Apishapa culture facts for kids

The Apishapa culture was a group of people who lived a long time ago, between the years 1000 and 1400. We call them "prehistoric" because they lived before written history. This culture is named after an archaeological site (a place where old things are found) in the Lower Apishapa canyon in Colorado. The Apishapa River, which flows into the Arkansas River, created this canyon. In 1976, experts found 68 Apishapa sites on the Chaquaqua Plateau in southeastern Colorado.

Where Did the Apishapa Culture Come From?

The Apishapa culture was mostly found in the Arkansas River basin in southeastern Colorado. It might have grown from another group called the Panhandle culture. Or, it could have developed from people who already lived in Colorado during the Woodland period.

What Was Apishapa Culture Like?

Apishapa sites have been found in Colorado and New Mexico. These people were mostly hunter-gatherers, meaning they hunted animals and gathered wild plants for food. They also sometimes farmed beans and five different types of maize (corn).

They hunted animals like bison, deer, pronghorn, and rabbits. They used tools like the bow and arrow, atlatl (a spear thrower), spears, and darts.

At a place called Picture Canyon, which is famous for its rock art, the Apishapa people lived on the canyon's edge. They farmed in the flat areas at the bottom of the canyon. Experts found lines of writing there, similar to those at 50 other sites. These writings seem to share information about the sun, planting, and travel.

An archaeologist named Robert G. Campbell first identified the Apishapa culture in 1975. He thought it came from another group called the Graneros, from the Texas panhandle. However, other archaeologists disagree. They say the Apishapa culture is not part of the Panhandle culture, even though they have some similarities. The Apishapa culture is also similar to a culture from the Upper Republican River basin, but their buildings were different.

Where Did the Apishapa People Live?

The Apishapa people lived in different kinds of homes. They used rock shelters, built stone or slab structures, or set up campsites. They usually chose protected spots near flowing water and canyon bottoms. These homes were often on high points or isolated flat-topped hills called mesas.

Stone Slab Buildings

Most stone slab homes were round or oval buildings with one room. But sometimes, they built groups of rooms, with as many as 37 rooms together!

An archaeologist named James Gunnerson studied two important Apishapa sites, Snake Blakeslee and Cramer, in the 1980s. These sites date back to about 1250 to 1350 AD.

• The Cramer site (Site ID 5PE484) was at the entrance of Apishapa canyon. It had buildings made of stone slabs. The walls were about 3.3 feet (1 meter) thick and built into a shallow dip in the ground. The biggest home was about 23 to 25 feet (7 to 7.6 meters) wide. Scientists think that four posts in the middle of the rooms held up the roof. The outer walls were likely filled with branches and grass, then covered with wet clay.
• The Snake Blakeslee site (Site ID 5LA1247) was about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the Cramer site. It had at least 11 rooms in two groups.
• Other Apishapa sites include the Sorenson site along the Purgatoire River, which had stone slab buildings with 3 to 25 rooms. The Avery Ranch site (Site ID 5PE56) in Turkey Canyon was used during two periods: around 1020-1040 AD and again from 1200-1290 AD.

Campsites

Apishapa campsites have been found in several places. These include Carrizo Ranches, the Wallace site north of Pueblo, and the northern part of Fort Carson in Colorado. In New Mexico, a campsite was found on Steamboat Island Fort.

Rock Shelters

The Apishapa people also lived in rock shelters, which are natural overhangs in cliffs. Examples include the Pyeatt, Trinchera Cave, Medina, and Upper Plum Canyon sites. Franktown Cave also has pieces of pottery similar to what the Apishapa made.

What Tools and Goods Did They Use?

The Apishapa people made pottery that was wrapped with cords. They used smaller, triangular projectile points (like arrowheads) with notches on the sides, which were different from other Plains tribes. Unlike some other Plains people, they did not use tools made from bison bones.

Besides projectile points, they used many other stone tools. These included knives, scrapers, gravers (for carving), choppers, axes, and drills. They used manos and metates (two types of grinding stones) to prepare food. They also made things from bones, like awls (for poking holes). They created cords from yucca plants and rabbit fur, and wove mats.

How Did They Interact with Other Groups?

The Apishapa people seemed to build their villages, sometimes called "forts," in places that were easy to defend. One group of sites stretches about 6.8 miles (11 kilometers) along a canyon. This setup might have allowed them to send signals from one place to another. They may have needed to protect their food supplies because more people were living in the area and the weather was changing.

They might have traded with the Ancient Pueblo People (also known as Anasazi). We know this because of special black-on-white pottery found at Apishapa sites. Other items found that show trade include:

• Medicine Creek jasper from Nebraska
• Alibates silicified dolomite from the Texas Panhandle
• Olivella seashells from the Pacific Ocean
• obsidian (a type of volcanic glass)
• Other kinds of pottery

What Happened to the Apishapa Culture?

Fewer Apishapa settlements were used in the 1300s. After the year 1400, there is no more evidence of the Apishapa culture on the Chaquaqua Plateau.

After the Apishapa, there is evidence of tipi villages. These are circles of earth about 12 feet (3.7 meters) wide, surrounded by spaced rocks. At these sites, archaeologists found tools like metates, manos, scrapers, gravers, projectile points, and flakes of Alibates chert. You can learn more about this period at Picture Canyon Tipi ring period.