The pre-Ancestral Puebloan Archaic to early agricultural tradition of the Colorado Plateau, known for woven baskets, semi-subterranean pit houses, and early maize cultivation.
Transitioned gradually into the Pueblo I period by approximately 750 CE, as the Basketmaker III phase (500–750 CE) gave way to above-ground stone masonry construction, the bow-and-arrow replacing the atlatl, and increasing sedentism — the Basketmaker label was subsumed by the broader Ancestral Puebloan sequence.
Comprehensive survey covering the Basketmaker periods and their transition to Ancestral Puebloan civilization.
Standard Southwest synthesis covering the Archaic-to-Basketmaker transition, early maize, pithouses and the roots of Ancestral Puebloan society.