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Hopi Indian
Archeology
Archeology.—The erection and
final abandonment of their villages by the various Hopi
clans during their migrations and successive shifting:, have
left many ruins, now consisting largely of mounds, both
within their present territory and remote from it. Ruins of
villages which the traditions of the Hopi ascribe to their
an custom are found as far north as the Rio Colorado, west
to Flagstaff, Ariz., south to the Verde valley, Tonto basin,
and the Rio Gila, and east to the Rio Grande in New Mexico.
Therefore, although
Shoshonean in language, the
present Hopi population and culture are composite, made up of accretions
from widely divergent sources and from people of different linguistic
stocks. Some of the Hopi ruins have been explored by the Bureau of
American Ethnology, the National Museum, and the Field Museum of Natural
History. One of the most celebrated of these is Awatobi on Jeditoh or
Antelope mesa, the walls of whose mission church, built probably in 1629,
are still partly standing.
Sikyatki, another large and now well-known ruin, in the
foothills of the East mesa, was occupied in prehistoric times by Kokop
clans of Keresan people from the Rio Grande country. They had attained a
highly artistic development as exhibited by their pottery, which is
probably the finest ware ever manufactured by Indians North of Mexico.
The original clans of Walpi are said to have occupied
three sites after their arrival in the Hopi country, settling first on the
terrace west of the East mesa, then higher up and toward the south, where
the foundation walls of a Spanish mission church can still be traced. From
this point they moved to the present Walpi on the summit of the mesa,
apparently soon after the Pueblo revolt of 1680. See Kisakobi,
Kuchaptureta.
Payupki, a picturesque ruin on the Middle mesa, was
settled by Tanoan people (apparently Tigua) about the year 1700 and
abandoned about 1742, when the inhabitants were taken back to the Rio
Grande and settled at Sandia.
Chukubi, a prehistoric pueblo midway between Payupki
and Shupaulovi, also on the Middle mesa, was built probably by southern
clans whose descendants form most of the present population of the Middle
mesa villages.
Old Shongopovi lay in the foothills at the base of the
Middle mesa, below the present pueblo of that name. This town was
inhabited at the time of the Spanish advent, and near it was built a
church the walls of which, up to a few years ago, served as a sheep
corral. Its original in-habitants came from the Little Colorado valley.
The ruins of Old Mishongnovi are on the terrace below
the present pueblo. Its walls are barely traceable. From its cemetery
beautiful pottery, resembling that of Sikyatki, has been exhumed.
Some of the most important ruins of the Hopi country
are situated on the rim of Antelope mesa, not far from Awatobi, and are
remains of Keresan pueblos. Among these are Kawaika and Chakpahu. In the
same neighborhood are the ruins of Kokopki, once occupied by the Wood
clan, originally from Jemez. North of the present Hopi mesas are ruins at
Kishuba, where the Kachina clan once lived, and at Lengyanobi, the home of
the Flute people. The ruins along the lower Little Colorado, near Black
falls, known as Wukoki, and those called Homolobi, near Winslow, are
likewise claimed by the Hopi as the homes of ancestral clans. Wukoki may
have been inhabited by the Snake people, while the inhabitants of Homolobi
were related to southern clans that went to Walpi and Zuñi.
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
Handbook
of American Indians, 1906
Index of Tribes or Nations
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