Teachers Guide
1. What is the difference between a petroglyph and a pictograph?
Petroglyphs are carvings on stone — Pictograph is a painting on stone.
2. How did the Cliff Dwellers close their doors and windows?
With door and window stones.
3. What is a metate stone?
A corn grinding stone.
4. When a couple married, whose home did they move in to?
The women owned the dwellings and invited the men into their homes.
5. How did the people store their corn and other food for future use?
In stone bins and silos.
6. For what purpose were the areas behind the Cliff Dwellings used?
Trash dumps, turkey pens, and the storage of their dead until spring.
7. Draw a diagram of a kiva and label the following: air deflector, fire pit, sipapu, storage shelves, fresh air shaft, and pilaster.
A. Ventilator shaft, for fresh air.
B. Deflector, to deflect the air.
C. Fire pit, for light and warmth.
D. Sipapu, spirit world entrance.
E. Pilasters, roof supports.
F. Shelves, for storage.
8. Which was the most common type door used in the cliff dwellings, T-door or rectangular?
Rectangular.
9. Why did the people build their homes, one room on top of the other?
For security.
10. Give two examples of how the Ancestral Puebloans stayed warm in the winter?
Each others body heat, animal skins, and yucca blankets.