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| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 |
The Mogollon lived in the mountain region. The Mogollon mountains are named for the Native Americans who lived there. Unlike the Anasazi, they hunted animals that were plentiful in the mountains, gathered food from wild plants, and grew corn. The mountains had a lot of wild berries and nuts. So the people did not grow as much food as the Anasazi did. They grew corn, dried it in the sun, and ground it into flour. They ate what they needed and stored the rest for winter
Houses
Families lived together in a village of pit houses on the side of the mountain that got the most rain. Like the Anasazi, the people later build pueblos and cliff houses of stone and adobe. They used kivas for special ceremonies. They may have learned how to build these houses from visiting the Anasazi. The adobe houses had thick walls that kept the homes warn in the winter and cool in the summer. The adobe was so sturdy that parts of the houses still stand today.
The people traded ideas and things they made with other groups of early Native Americans. They got many ideas from the Anasazi. They may have learned about cotton from the Hohokam.
Pottery
Today, Mogollon pottery is famous for the pictures of animals, people and geometric designs of triangles and other shapes. The designs are black on a white background. pictures on Mogollon pottery help us see what their lives were like. Men are shown picking bugs off corn plants. Other people are setting traps to catch birds. Some are killing deer with a bow and arrow. Others are dancing.
View picture of Mogollon Pottery
The people sometimes buried pottery with a person who died. A hole was punched into each pot before it was put in the grave, because the Mogollon believed that each pot held the spirit of the owner. The spirit was freed from the pot through the hole.
Where did the Mogollon go?
No one knows for sure why the Mogollon left their mountain villages. Some mixed with other tribes, especially the Anasazi. Archeologists believe that many Mogollon people went to Mexico. No Native Americans today are descendants of the Mogollon.
Learn more about the
Mogollon people
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