Modified Basket Maker

people

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Last updated

June 30, 2026

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The Modified Basket Maker people were an ancient culture inhabiting the plateau region of the southwestern United States. Their civilization is distinguished by several key advancements:1

Technology: They utilized fired pottery, constructed permanent pithouses, and employed grooved hammers and notched axes.1
Tools: They were among the first to use bows and arrows.1
Agriculture: Their diet included cultivated beans and corn.1
Domestication: They raised domesticated turkeys.1

The term "Basket Maker" itself refers to any of three stages of this ancient culture, and also to the people who created this culture.2

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Ancestral Pueblo culture
…III period (also called the Modified Basketmaker period) is marked by the increasing importance of agriculture, including the introduction of bean crops and the domestication of turkeys. To support their agricultural pursuits and increasing population, the people built irrigation structures such as reservoirs and check dams, low stone walls used…
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…III period (also called the Modified Basketmaker period) is marked by the increasing importance of agriculture, including the introduction of bean crops and the domestication of turkeys. To support their agricultural pursuits and increasing population, the people built irrigation structures such as reservoirs and check dams, low stone walls used…
Read More