I was reading an article recently by Marian Rodee, a noted expert on Pueblo textiles and clothing. She described a prehistoric shirt found intact in a cliff dwelling and compared it to a modern Pueblo shirt that is visually similar.

In clothing of the Indians, Rodee pointed out, it is possible to observe "continuity over long periods of time."

Her statement got me to thinking about confirming evidence that is plentiful in the historical record. Traditionally, the Pueblos clung to certain articles or styles of dress that were firmly grounded in the past.

That remains true today only in the costuming one sees in public rituals, such as the corn dance. For everyday wear, Pueblos mainly sport the latest Walmart fashions.

Invariably, 16th-century Spanish explorers expressed admiration in their journals for the Native people here who went clothed and wore "shoes," that is, the rust-colored Pueblo moccasins, or teguas.

The Chichimec Indians spread thinly across northern Mexico were scantily dressed, if at all. So finding people on the upper Rio Grande who wore shirts, dresses, blankets and woven belts meant they were culturally advanced to the European way of thinking.

Hernán Gallegos, accompanying a small expedition to New Mexico in 1581, wrote that the Pueblo Indians "have much cotton, which they spun, wove, and made into blankets for covering and clothing themselves."

The cotton blanket was the common manta, a square of cloth, two of which were sewn together to form the basic Pueblo woman's dress.

Men were the weavers, with a single exception. Women wove strips of rabbit skin to make warm cloaks, a garment dating far back into the prehistoric past.

Raising of Indian cotton was concentrated in the warmer Rio Abajo, the area south of Santa Fe. From that source, the fiber was traded north and west to other Pueblos.

The other material widely used for clothing was gamuza, finely tanned buckskin. It did not require as much time and labor to produce as cotton, and it was warmer in winter.

Few descriptions of everyday Pueblo wear have come down to us from the colonial period. That changes with arrival of Americans after independence from Spain in 1821.

In stray comments, the newcomers indicate that the common Pueblo dress was showing signs of having assimilated various elements from the Hispano population.

One example was the men's knee-length white pants worn with stockings that reached up to cover the calves of the legs. This style represented a Spanish borrowing by Pueblo farmers.

In all respects, however, their wives and daughters hewed strictly to tradition, retaining the manta dress and binding it at the waist with a sash of Pueblo design.

In the American territorial period, Pueblo costume changed slowly at first. The coming of the railroad in 1880, though, brought a flood of cheap manufactured goods, especially textiles. These found their way into Indian trading posts and led to changes in clothing and other aspects of Native life.

The 20th century witnessed a speed-up in the transition from old dress styles to acceptance of the modern commercial norm. Only in the realm of religious ceremonies has much of the ancient tradition in costuming managed to survive.

Attend the green corn dance and you will see the embroidered dance kilts of the men that resemble those shown in prehistoric kiva paintings. And the women, like as not, will be clad in the historic black manta dresses.

Bravely clinging to tradition, the Pueblos, whether in clothing or in other aspects of the old culture, still manage to preserve their own time-honored identity.

Historian Marc Simmons is author of numerous books on New Mexico and the Southwest. His column appears Saturdays.