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.)
One of the most interesting discoveries in West canyon is the grove of
peach trees in the valley a short distance from the canyon wall. The
existence of these trees indicates Spanish influence. Peach trees were
introduced into the Hopi country and the Canyon de Chelly in historic
times either by Spanish priests or by refugees from the Rio Grande
pueblos. They were observed in the Chelly canyon by Simpson in 1850.
The geographical position of these ruins in relation to Navaho
mountain[12] leads the writer to believe that they might have been
built by the Snake clans in their migration south and west from
Tokónabi to Wukóki, but he has not yet been able to identify them by
Hopi traditions.
But little has appeared in print on the ruins near Marsh pass. In
former times an old government road, now seldom used, ran through
Marsh pass, and those who traveled over it had a good view of some of
these ruins. Situated far from civilization, this region has attracted
but slight attention, although it is one of the most important,
archeologically speaking, in our Southwest. Much of this part of
Arizona is covered with ruins, some of which, as “Tecolote,”[13]
are indicated on the United States Engineers’ map of 1877. In his
excellent article[14] on this region Dr. T. Mitchell Prudden gives us
no description of the interesting cliff-dwellings in or near Marsh
pass, though he writes of the ruins in the neighboring canyon: “There
are numerous small valley sites, several cliff houses, and a few
pictographs in the canyon of the Towanache,[15] which enters Marsh
pass from the northwest.” As indicated on his map, Doctor Prudden’s
route did not pass the large ruins west and south of this canyon or
those on the road to Red Lake and Tuba.
Manifestly, the purpose of a national monument is the preservation
of important objects contained therein, and a primary object of
archeological work should be to attract to it as many visitors and
students as possible. As the country in which the Navaho National
Monument is situated is one of the least known parts of Arizona, first
place will be given to a brief account of one of the routes by which
the important ruins included in the reserve may be reached.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The author’s first visit to these ruins was made in September,
1909, and he returned to the work in the following May. A few notes
made on the latter trip on ruins not observed during the former are
incorporated in this report.
[2] The exact situation of Tokónabi has never been identified by
archeologists. Ruins are called by the Navaho _nasazi bogondi_, “houses
of the _nasazi_.” The name Tokónabi may be derived from Navaho _to_,
“water;” _ko_, contraction of _bokho_, “canyon;” and the Hopi locative
_obi_, “place of.” The derivation from Navaho _boko_, “coal oil,” is
rejected, since it is very modern.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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