Preliminary report on a visit to the Navaho National Monument, Arizona — John Shaqi
Preliminary report on a visit to the Navaho National Monument, ArizonaFewkes, Jesse Walter
History
Preliminary report on a visit to the Navaho National Monument, Arizona
Fewkes, Jesse Walter
Arizona -- Antiquities; Cliff-dwellings -- Arizona; Navajo National Monument (Ariz.)
The present population of Walpi, a Hopi pueblo, is made up of
descendants of various clans, whose ancestors once lived in distant
villages, now ruins, situated in various directions from its site on
the East mesa. One of the problems before the student of the Pueblos
is to locate accurately the ancestral villages where these clans lived
in prehistoric times. From an examination of the architecture of these
villages and a study of the character of secular and cult objects found
in them, the culture of the clans that inhabited these dwellings could
be roughly determined. The culture at any epoch in the history of the
clan being known, data are available that may make possible comparison
and correlation with that which is still more ancient: in other words,
that may add a chapter to our knowledge of the migrations of the Hopi
Indians in prehistoric times.
The writer has already identified some of the ancient houses of those
Hopi clans that claim to have dwelt formerly south of Walpi, on the
Little Colorado near Winslow, but has not investigated the ruins to
the north, in which once lived the Snake, Horn, and Flute clans. An
investigation of the origin and migrations of this contingent is
instructive because it is claimed that these clans were among the first
to arrive at Walpi, or that they united with the previously existing
Bear clan, forming the nucleus of the population of that pueblo.
A preliminary step in the investigation of the culture of the clans
that played a most important part in founding Walpi and giving rise
to the Hopi people would be the identification of the houses (now
ruins) of the Snake, Horn, and Flute clans, the existence of which in
the region north of Walpi is known with a greater or less degree of
certainty from Hopi legends. An archeologic study of these ruins and
of cult objects found in them would reveal some of the prehistoric
features of the culture of the ancient Snake clans. “The ancient home
of my ancestors,” said the old Snake chief to the writer, “was called
Tokónabi,[2] which is situated not far from Navaho mountain. If you
go there, you will find ruins of their former houses.” In previous
years the writer had often looked with longing eyes to the mountains
that formed the Hopi horizon on the north where these mysterious homes
of the Snake and Flute clans were said to be situated, but had never
been able to explore them. In 1909 the opportunity came to visit this
region, and while some of the ruins found may not be identifiable with
Tokónabi, they were abodes of people almost identical in culture with
the ancient Snake, Horn, and Flute clans of the Hopi.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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