Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895: Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744Fewkes, Jesse Walter
History
Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895: Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744
There are evidences that the large hill on top of East Mesa, not far
from the twin mounds, was once the site of a pueblo of considerable
size, but I have not been able to gather any definite legend about it.
Near this ruin is the "Eagle shrine" in which round wooden imitations
of eagle eggs are ceremonially deposited, and in the immediate
vicinity of which is another shrine near which tracks are cut in the
rock, and which were evidently considered by the Indian who pointed
them out to me as having been made by some bird.[46] It is probably
from these footprints, which are elsewhere numerous, that the two
ruins called Küküchomo ("footprints mound") takes its name.
JEDITOH VALLEY RUINS
As one enters Antelope valley, following the Holbrook road, he finds
himself in what was formerly a densely populated region of Tusayan.
This valley in former times was regarded as a garden spot, and the
plain was covered with patches of corn, beans, squashes, and chile.
The former inhabitants lived in pueblos on the northern side, high up
on the mesa which separates Jeditoh valley from Keam's canyon. All of
these pueblos are now in ruins, and only a few Navaho and Hopi
families cultivate small tracts in the once productive fields.
The majority of the series of ruins along the northern rim of Antelope
valley resemble Awatobi, which is later described in detail. It is
interesting to note that in the abandonment of villages the same law
appears to have prevailed here as in the other Tusayan mesas, for in
the shrinkage of the Hopi people they concentrated more and more to
the points of the mesas. Thus, at East Mesa, Sikyatki, Kachinba, and
Küküchomo were destroyed, while Walpi remained. At Middle Mesa,
Chukubi and Payüpki became ruins, and in Antelope valley Awatobi was
the last of the Jeditoh series to fall. There has thus been a gradual
tendency to drift from readily accessible locations to the most
impregnable sites, which indicates how severely the Hopi must have
been harassed by their foes. It is significant that some of the oldest
pueblos were originally built in the most exposed positions, and it
may rightly be conjectured that the pressure on the villagers came
long after these sites were chosen. The ancient or original Hopi had a
sense of security when they built their first houses, and they,
therefore, did not find it necessary to seek the protection of cliffs.
Many of them lived in the valley of the Colorado Chiquito, others at
Kishuba. As time went on, however, they were forced, as were their
kindred in other pueblos, to move to inaccessible mesas guarded by
vertical cliffs.
Of the several ruins of Antelope valley, that on the mesa above
Jeditoh or Antelope spring is one of the largest and most interesting.
Stephen calls this ruin Mishiptonga, and a plan of the old house is
given by Mindeleff.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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