Frijoles: A Hidden Valley in the New WorldHendron, J. W. (Jerome William)
History
Frijoles: A Hidden Valley in the New World
Hendron, J. W. (Jerome William)
Cliff-dwellers -- New Mexico; Frijoles Canyon (N.M.)
The Indians who lived in the Valley of the Frijoles communicated with
the other groups who lived in deep canyons to the south and to the
north. They visited each other and even traded back and forth. Little
colonies were formed when one, two, three or four families lived
together in a house with several rooms. But the time was to come when
this living all over the country would stop; people would come together
to live in communities. And the little colony sites would be abandoned
forever for the archæologist to discover centuries later.
A touchy subject is that of linguistics. It is a tricky one. But
students know that five different languages are spoken among the Pueblo
Indians of New Mexico today. They are: Tiwa, Tewa, Towa, Keres, and
Zuñian. To be on the safe side, one should not touch too heavily upon
languages spoken by Indians, especially in a writing of this kind. But
languages and dialects do play an important part in our story. When
those early people drifted from Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde toward the
Rio Grande, they spoke a language. But, it is unknown. Students have
ideas, but are reluctant to advance opinions based on the ruins they
excavate or the artifacts they discover. But, two groups of Indians
speaking different languages drifted onto the Pajarito. People speaking
different languages have never gotten along well together even from the
Tower of Babel until the present time.
It has been mentioned before that Keres-speaking Indians have a legend
that long years ago a treaty or contract was made between their
ancestors and Tewa-speaking people. It is said that certain loosely
defined ranges of territory were to belong to each of the two groups.
The meeting place or the place where the treaty was made was called
“Tyuonyi.” “Tyuonyi” means “place of treaty.” Thus the dividing line
between Tewa and Keres lands became sharply defined by what is now known
as “Frijoles Canyon.” But how long was such a treaty to last among
primitive people? All the lands to the south of Frijoles Canyon were
supposedly Keres and those to the north were Tewa. After this treaty was
made, Indians probably spread out on each side of the Canyon like the
parting of the waters of the Red Sea. Small house sites dotted the mesas
and canyons on both sides. But still, members of both groups could
possibly have lived here together. Legend hints at this.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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