STEPHEN PLOG

Ancient
Peoples of
the American
Southwest
Drawings by Amy Elizabeth Grey

With IS0 illustratiom

17 in color

..

T&H
~
. THAMES AND HUDSON
 1 . Introduction: People
landscape

"'nntf"",p<:tas typically defined includes all of and

S01uttlern reaches of Colorado, and the
rn lVtexlcan states Chihuahua and Sonora. It is a region that evokes 2

h of images and myths. picture harsh deserts with .)

d rattlesnakes. Others versions of the coioniza
of the West in which warriors attack a wagon train of
rican settlers, but beat a retreat the US. cavalry thunders to
escue. Anyone with the however, knows that such
are at best at worst totally false. Imlt.alDm;ed
'-'1
GiW Ri~el beautiful Southwestern deserts are resplendent mountains
...... covered by forests of juniper, pine, or Douglas fir. The majority
..... .....
..... ..... nous peoples were not nomadic warriors, but settled farmers,
..... gatherers, traders and craftsmen. For every modern city, such as
, Tucson, or Phoenix, there are hundreds of small villages and
inhabited, in some cases for centuries, by Americans.
these villages, we find thousands of ruins of native settle
these define spectacular national and monuments -
Canyon in northwestern New i\1esa Verde in southwestern
Colorado, Canyon de in northeastern Arizona, or Casa Grande ncar

2 Rapid changes in elevation over relatively short distances characterize much of the Southwest,
creating a mosaic of landforms and vegetation patterns.

3 RIGHT An extremely sparse vegetation cover of mesquite, creosote, and a variety of cacti is typical of
much of the arid Sonoran desert in southern Arizona and New Mexico and northern Mexico.
 9 The pueblo of Santo Domingo in the Rio Grande Valley is referred to

in some of the earliest Spanish accounts of the 16th century and is still a

thriving settlement today.

,
I The Pueblos of the north and east
MESCALERO I The modern Pueblo peoples of New Mexico and Arizona are unquestion
APACHE I ably descendants of the ancient Southwesterners. Many of them still dwell
CHIRICAHUA

'~'-'~~~:~i:~1 Nt
APACHE in villages constructed during the prehistoric era, the oldest continually
. \'-'-'-'
I
inhabited settlements anywhere in North America. We group these people
I .
._._.':'.-.1 ....." a 100 km together - the Hopi of northeastern Arizona, the towns of Zuni, Acoma, and
~. Laguna in the Cibola region of west-central New Mexico, and the many
communities of the Rio Grande Valley - because of clear similarities in
8 Tribal territories in the 18th and 19th centuries. Native Americans inhabited most areas
of the Southwest at European contact and some groups, particularly the Navajo, expanded economy, architecture, and religion. Multi-story, apartment-like blocks of 9,10
their settlement area through the 17th and 18th centuries. contiguous dwellings built using shaped sandstone blocks or adobe serve as
residences and storage rooms for groups ranging in size from a few hundred
people to a few thousand. In AD 1599, the Spanish settler Don Juan de Onate
described them as follows:
Studies of these ruins have revealed early towns inhabited by hundreds of
people - some of the largest prehistoric settlements in North America. Indians, settled after our custom, house adjoining house, with square

Complex irrigation canals, dug without the aid of metal tools, are associated plazas. They have no streets, and in the pueblos, which contain many

with several of these towns. Despite the lack of horses or other means of plazas or wards, one goes from one plaza to the other through alleys. They

transport, the ancient Southwesterners journeyed south into Mexico and are of two and three stories ... and some houses are of four, five, six, and

east to northern Texas and Oklahoma to trade for such exotic materials as seven stories. I

copper, buffalo hides, the feathers of the brightly colored macaw, or shell for
use as ornaments or in ceremonies. These people were constrained by their groups of the northern and eastern Southwest constructed ll1ulti--story,
environment, but not controlled by it. Their technology was limited, but ous residenct's of adobe and masonry.
their diligence and ingenuity were not.
Native Southwesterners today comprise descendants both of those who
8 inhabited the region before European contact, and-of those who arrived in
the late prehistoric period or early historic era. Members of the former
group include the Pueblo peoples of the northern Southwest and several
more southerly peoples who lived in villages that the Spanish called
rancherias. Relative newcomers to the region include the Navajo and Apache,
who only entered the Southwest in the late 15th century or early 16th
century. Important though they have been to the life of the region in historic
times, they played no part in the story of the ancient Southwest to be told in
the following pages.

16
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II Pueblo thought emphasizes the cyclical nature of time, with space structured by a QJ tf
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division between the upper world and the lower. The Hopi view birth and death (above world
right) as a continuous cycle. Individuals who die in the upper world return to the lower
world through the sipapu and are then reborn in the lower world. Ultimately the re
12 For the Tewa, one of the Pueblo groups of the Rio Grande Valley, a wide range of activities rel~
embodied spirits of the dead return to the upper world in newborn babies. Seasons are to agriculture, hunting, or plant collection are distributed throughout the yearly cycle. They culti
reversed in the two worlds (below), as are night and day (above left) as the sun moves from
the native crops of corn, beans, and squash during the late spring, summer, and early fall, and hun
one world to the other.
a regular basis primarily during the late fall and winter.

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These villages are the focus of activities throughout the year, but small 6'''' > .,
/,..,.1..". U' .... 4!'''t,o:;.f/)o...,J J ~'6~'"
6'(o?~"'6) ~
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groups also make numerous short and long trips to hunt and gather, to

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obtain resources such as salt or clay, or to visit religious shrines. <;)';

The various Pueblo groups share many ideas about the nature of the Jo
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cosmos, including the belief that their people first emerged from an opening 0'8:0 "8 ?r
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in the underworld and then, over the years, migrated to their current vil- Ja!~" 8
oJ Ja'lJ
II lages. The dichotomy between the underworld and the upper world is one ~DAa'"'l !M JD 0 01
9U!l.f::lIJI 1&1/111
that organizes Pueblo thought in a variety of ways. The Hopi, for example, "Il J "l ., 0, SUMMER SOLSTICE
believe that night occurs when the sun passes into the underworld; night and WINTER SOLSTICE
aU!;}8J Artal:/
nal retreat
day are thus reversed in the two realms. Seasons are also reversed, so when it Cornmu e~ Ja!~:J 'alJJ"'0'0 80IPO'IS 01"11
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is winter in one realm, it is summer in the other. Death in the upper world is sot'.\ 00.':. s JD OOII'"'lao,
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followed by birth in the underworld, and vice versa. 2 This series of daily, all'>
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yearly, and unbounded cycles between different states creates a strong Il ~e' ->io"~ .., " ..,,' :<l
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degree of dualism in Pueblo society.
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The Pueblos produce most of their food through farming (with corn as ~,,, ~"';$" ..",'" ~;;,.!, ~ ~ .:
"'~e,,"q; .... :s~."'~~z
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the primary crop), but with important supplements from hunting animals C

and gathering wild plants. The growing season allows only one crop a year, '>!!'ii~Ji ; E :: ~
the alternation between farming and non-farming periods reinforcing the ~ ~ ~ <C

cycle of Tewa ritual reflects and reinforces the economic pattern. Summer ceremo
;e rainfall and promote fertility and crop yields, while rituals that focus on war and
18
occur durinlt the fall and early winter. "
 INTRODUCTION: PEOPLE A~
dualism in Pueblo thought. The solstices or the equinoxes tend to be 5iignifi
cant points dividing the calendar into two primary periods. Among the
Hopi, ritual activity is concentrated during the late spring, summer, and
early fall, whereas among some of the Rio Grande communities the most
intense period of ceremonies falls between the autumnal and vernal
equinox.3 Astronomical observations - often made by simply noting the
location of the sunset or sunrise along the horizon - are thus important to
the scheduling of many activities, ranging from farming to ceremonies.
Ceremonies are organized by special societies and directed by leaders or
priests who have memorized complex rituals. Most rituals have public, com
munal components conducted either in open plazas or in kivas - subter
ranean religious structures - as well as sessions in kivas restricted to ritual
specialists. Many Pueblo groups symbolize the place of emergence from the
underworld, the sipoftne or sipapu, by a small hole in the floor of their kivas.
A well-known aspect of Pueblo religion, particularly in the western
groups, are the public kachina dances. The Pueblos believe kachinas to be
ancestor spirits who mediate between the living and Pueblo deities, and
bring rain and other benefits to the communities. They live in the under
world for half the year, then emerge and remain in and around the villages
between the winter and summer solstices. The numerous types of kachina
14-16 ABOVE Hopi men leave the Snake kiva in the
ranging from owls and bears to butterflies - are represented by dancers
village of Oraibi in August 1900 to begin the hunt believed to be imbued with the spirit of the kachina when they wear the req
for rattlesnakes that will be needed for the snake uisite mask and costume.
ceremony. BELOW Some kivas consisted of a large
room with a smaller antechamber where altars
were often erected. Kiva floors were sometimes
covered with thin sandstone slabs with a central
hearth, the sipapu or sipofene, and embedded
wooden slabs or stones that served as lower loom of kachina dancers at the I Iopi Yillag'c of Oraibi sometimc during the 19305.
anchors. Beams to anchor the upper part of the
loom were hung from the ceiling or fastened to the
walls. RIGHT The sipapu, a small hole in the floor
of both historic and prehistoric kivas, symbolizes
the location where Pueblo people first emerged
from the underworld to build villages in the upper
world.

Kivas and
kachinas
INTRODUCTION: PEOPLE AND LANDSCAPE

Despite the similarities in religion, economy, and village architecture

among the various Pueblo groups, many clues suggest disparate origins.
Village organization, patterns of kinship, and details of ritual all show con
siderable variation. Among western Pueblo groups, for example, ceremonies
focus mostly on efforts to produce fertility and rain, while in the east the
emphasis is on medicine and curing.
The Pueblo peoples also speak a range of languages belonging to several
different language families. The Hopi language, for example, is part of the
Uto-Aztecan language family, an extremely large group that also encom 18 A traditional Pima house
with a wooden framework was
passes non-Pueblo peoples of the Southwest and Great Basin, as well as first covered with arrowweed,
others who now live as far away as central Mexico and Central America. The wheat straw, cat's-tail reeds or
Zuni, on the other hand, speak a tongue subsumed within the separate Zuni other plant material and then
language family, while residents of nearby Acoma speak a dialect belonging a layer of earth.
to the Keresan family. Among the many Pueblo communities of the Rio
Grande Valley can be found representatives of the Kiowa-Tanoan and person within his social group and village; ritual, political, and social leader
Keresan language families. ship are closely intertwined. Among the rancheria peoples ordinary men,
Linguistic anthropologists use the differences among the various lan rather than priests, perform ritual songs and speeches in a cycle of commu
guages as an index of how long it has been since the ancestors of the modern nal ceremonies focusing on rain and fertility. The well-defined hierarchy of
groups interacted enough to share a common language. Based on these esti offices found in the Pueblos is lacking here. Kivas and kachinas are also
mates, it appears that a separation of some of the groups occurred several absent.
millennia ago. Within the Uto-Aztecan family, divergence probably began In addition to the communal ritual cycle, shamans conduct more individ
about 5,000 years ago, whereas differences among the various Tanoan ualized ceremonies among the rancherias. Shamans are prophets and divin
branches suggest separation about 2,500 to 2,000 years ago. All these esti ers who can cause and cure illness and who possess magical powers in
mates indicate that cultural and linguistic differences began to emerge hunting, rainmaking, and warfare. They acquire these powers through
during the prehistoric era. 4 dreams or visions, in which an individual travels to a sacred place where he
encounters a spirit who imparts songs and other knowledge to the dreamer.
Curing rituals, still common todaY,5 usually involve the removal of a spirit or
Rancherias of the south and west foreign object by brushing the patient with particular objects or by sucking
The early Spanish explorers contrasted the compact villages of the Pueblos his body.
with the rancherias - diffuse communities of scattered dwellings - of the Most rancheria groups depended to some extent on farming, but the
native peoples of western and southern Arizona and northern Mexico. degree of dependence varied. Those who were mainly farmers resided in
18 Typically constructed with a framework of poles covered with brush, woven riverine areas such as the Colorado, Sonora, or Gila Rivers, inhabiting a
mats, or mud daub, the residences within a single village were sometimes as single village or moving between two villages during the course of the year.
much as half a mile apart. The rancheria pattern had precursors during the Other people, such as the Havasupai, consumed wild plants and animals, or,
prehistoric era, but, as we shall see in later chapters, more compact commu like the Navajo, herded flocks of sheep and goats after they were introduced
nities comparable to the Pueblos also existed here prior to the arrival of the by the Spanish. Such groups were more mobile, often inhabiting primary
Spanish. villages in different ecological zones during the summer and winter, and
The rancheria people include the Yavapai, Walapai, and Havasupai of establishing secondary camps for the collection of different resources or to
western Arizona, and the Mohave, Quechan (or Yuma), Cocopa; and move herds to new grazing areas. The hunting and gathering Tohono
Maricopa of the lower Colorado and Gila Rivers - all speaking dialects of the moved several times each year as local resources became
Yuman language family. The Pima and Tohono O'odham (formerly relying on a widespread network of kin to obtain information on
Papago), Tarahumara, Concho, and Opata of southern Arizona and north of resources in different areas.
ern Mexico, have dialects belonging to the Uto-Aztecan family. Significant rainfall of the southern and western Southwest generally limits
differences in group organization and religion also separate the rancheria to where irrigation is possible, or where periodic floodwa
people from the Pueblos. Typically a Pueblo ritual leader is a prominent moisture for crops. In contrast to the north, the
 INTRODUCTION: PEOPLE AND LANDSCA

~ noW and cold are unusually great': the environmental setting

...... -----_ ..... us would attempt to live off the land in the Southwest for a year or
a week, because of its aridity and perceived barrenness. Yet native
s have survived and even thrived here for centuries, exploiting the
DEER
diverse environments of desert, plateau, and mountain, using a knowledge
BEAR accrued over many generations that has allowed them to predict where
farming would be successful and when and where wild plants could be gath
animals hunted.
crucial importance are vegetation, rainfall, and temperature. Natural
includes edible plants ranging from the nuts of pinon pines to the 2()
of a variety grasses and f(wbs to the fruits of cacti. These plant
sustain animals, and therefore influence the types and densities of
Boundary of Zuni Hunting
BIRDS (throughout area) can be hunted. Temperature and rainfall not affect natural
n, but are also critical in determining the success or failure of
\Vhen many people think of the Southwest it is the torrid
temperatures that come to But winters can be equally severe. 2S
40 miles
t
N his initial encounter with the Zuni in "vcst-central New ]Vlexico in
~----;; 'i1"
50 kilometers ~ ancisco Vasquez de Coronado wrote that 'The snow and the cold are
y great, according to what the natives of the country say.'7 The best
chronicler of the Coronado expedition, Pedro de Castaneda de
19 Pueblo people lived in one primary village throughout the year and generally farmed land in the wrote that it was the beginning of December and 'it snowed
immediate vicinity of that village, but they ranged over a sizeable area to collect plant foods and moon and nearly every night, so that, in order to prepare lodgings,
minerals, to hunt, or to worship at religious shrines. This map illustrates the vast area over which the
Zuni ventured as they hunted rabbits, birds, turkey, deer, antelopes, bear, and buffalo. camped they had to clear away a cubit of snow.'s These frigid
can begin early in the fall and linger into late spring, if not early
many an archaeologist can attest. I still vividly recall the early
on Black Mesa in northeastern Arizona when I awoke to find
growing season is often long enough potentially to allow more than one crop g from my tent. 'I'he growing season over much of the north
a year. Lower winter precipitation and the nature of native cultigens, Test is thus only long enough to raise one crop. The Hopi plant
however, appear to have limited that option, and double cropping only early as the middle of April, sow their main crop around the
became common when the Spanish introduced wheat which thrived under and then harvest it in late September or early October, but
the climatic conditions typical of the late fall and winter. 'Uf in that area as late as early June and as early as the middle of
An active trade in a variety of materials cross-cut the cultural differences
between the southern and northern parts of the Southwest in prehistoric
times. During his travels through the rancheria region in 1539, Fray Marcos
de Niza reported that he saw 'more than two thousand skins of cattle,
extremely well tanned,'6 obtained from the city of Cibola (Zuni). These
buffalo hides had in fact been traded all the way from the plains of eastern
New Mexico and northern Texas. Other valued goods included shell from
the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California, parrot and macaw feathers
from the Gulf Coast region of Mexico, and cotton. Pueblo groups also
mined turquoise in several areas, most notably the Cerrillos region of the Rio
19 Grande Valley, and hunted or collected a variety of animals, plants, and min
erals over a substantial area encircling their villages. Travel over long dis
tances was thus common, creating an intricate pattern of contacts among the
different groups.
INTRODUCTION: PEOPLE AND LANDSCAPE

Another year-to-year concern is whether or not there will be sufficient

moisture for plants to germinate and mature. Although numerous rivers and
streams are shown on maps of the Southwest, many watercourses are
ephemeral, carrying run-off only during particular seasons or after heavy
rains. Farmers in historic as well as prehistoric times have often therefore
had to depend exclusively on rainfall, and that rainfall has frequently been
insufficient. A small part of the region may average as much as 25-30 in
(64-76 cm) of precipitation a year, but 5-15 in (13-38 cm) is more typical.
Such aridity does at any rate benefit the archaeologist: food remains, cloth
21,22 ing, and wooden structures and implements are all well preserved in the dry
conditions.
Also significant is the pattern of rainfall through the year. Particularly
critical is the late spring to early summer period when fields are planted. In
23 both the southern and northern Southwest, that period from April to June is
the driest of the year. If winter rains and snows do not recharge soil moisture
sufficiently, germination will be hindered and yields reduced. July through
September is the wettest part of the year, but storms tend to be so localized
26 that rain may fall on one area, while other nearby fields remain bone dry.
Unpredictable temperature and precipitation mean unpredictable farming.
Altitude is another important environmental factor. Rainfall increases and
24 temperature and growing season decrease as one climbs to higher elevations.
Given the diversity of topography and elevation in the region - from about summer rainstorms in the Southwest often drench some localities while le<\ving
300 ft (100 m) in some areas to over 12,000 ft (3,600 m) in mountainous residents frustrated and dry,
25 zones - we find a wide range of climatic conditions and plant zones.
Perhaps the most important characteristic of the Southwestern environ
ment, therefore, is its diversity. Sizzling summer temperatures, mild
winters, and rainfall of less than 10 in (25 cm) a year characterize the arid lievatH)fiS between 4,000 and 8,000 ft (1,200 and 2,400 m), but some sections
Sonoran desert to the south, where the Hohokam site of Snaketown is arid as parts of the Sonoran desert. Holbrook, for example, in east
found. Here the dominant vegetation includes cacti such as cholla, prickly Arizona is 4,000 ft (1,200 m) above Phoenix in the southern desert
pear, saguaro, and ocotillo; shrubs such as saltbush, greasewood, and cre lmost 2,000 ft (600 m) below Flagstaff in the mountains. While
osote; and low trees like mesquite along drainages. The modern city of er temperatures in Holbrook are intermediate between the two other
Phoenix lies in this zone. as would be expected from their respective elevations, average annual
North of the Sonoran desert, through the middle sections of Arizona and itation in Holbrook barely exceeds that of Phoenix, while winter tem
New Mexico, run beautiful mountain ranges. Below the timber line, pon res are almost as low as those at Flagstaff Average maximum temper
derosa pine forests or woodlands of pifion and -;uniper cover ridges and f()r January are 46, 42, and 65 OF (8, 6, and 18 DC) for Holbrook,
slopes, with grassy meadows or sagebrush in valley bottoms. Temperatures and Phoenix respectively, while average annual rainfall is 7.4,19. 8,
may be Io-I5DC (I8-27DF) lower than in the Sonoran desert, rainfall 2-3 and 6.7 in (18.8, 50.3, and 17 cm). These transition zones and plateaus are
times higher. The city of Flagstaff lies in this zone. thus a formidable challenge for people relying on hunting and gathering or
In between are transition zones, often sharing characteristics of both agriculture.
mountain and desert. They feature rapid changes in topography, and broad rapid changes in elevation in many parts of the Southwest make it
areas of plateaus and mesas. Such zones vary greatly in both vegetation and to travel only 20 or 30 miles and move from the heat and aridity of
environmental conditions, presenting both challenges and opportunities to rt to the cooler, more luxuriant mountains. For thousands of years,
prehistoric settlers. people have been able to exploit a wide variety of environments
For example, the extensive Colorado Plateau of the northern Southwest, movement. Many groups, both historic and prehistoric, took
where the sites of Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon are located, lies mostly at that opportunity.
 INTRODUCTION: PEOPLE AND LANDSCAI
INTRODUCTION: PEOPLE AND LANDSCAPE

Dating ancient sites, reconstructing past environments _,vide excellent information on the soil accumulation (aggradation) in
ypes of vegetation that grew in the rivers and streams are caused by
area. The organic material can be changes in the amount of annual
For the prehistoric period - the that charcoal is recovered. precipitation or in seasonal
dated through radiocarbon methods,
period before written records Conclusions about how processes of precipitation patterns. By examining
aiding our understanding of how
archaeologists generally have to rely culture change in the Southwestern stratigraphic profiles - the layers of
vegetation patterns changed over
on several different scientific methods deserts parallel patterns in the north soils exposed in the banks of
of variable accuracy to date the past, ultimately will depend upon an time. drainages - that document the history
Another method of looking at past
in particular (since the 1950S) improved Hohokam chronology, of degradation and aggradation, they
environmental conditions focuses on
radiocarbon dating. In the Southwest, but the most recent interpretations have been able to develop models of
and landforms.
however, the dry environment has have suggested some strong how climatic conditions changed over
omorphologists have found that
furnished archaeologists with one correlations. time in the Southwest.
t!Crus of erosion (degradation) and
exceptionally accurate dating method: Tree-ring width patterns,
dendrochronology, or tree-ring determined as they are by variation in
dating. The technique - now applied precipitation and temperature, also
in many different parts of the world provide relatively precise
was pioneered here in the 1920S by an reconstructions of past climates.
astronomer, A. E. Douglass. He These dendroclimatic
exploited the fact that each year trees reconstructions are particularly
such as the Douglas fir and pinon pine important in discussions of the last
produce an outer ring or layer of new two millennia. But there are also other
wood, which builds up into a methods of investigating ancient
sequence of rings over the lifetime of environments, especially pollen 1940 1960 1980

the individual tree. Crucially the rings analysis, research into packrat nests,
vary in thickness from year to year, and geomorphology (the study of past
Newly cut tree
largely because of annual fluctuations landforms).
in climate. By matching and Pollen grains produced by different

t:
overlapping ring sequences in living plants can be distinguished by their
trees with those in old wood, shape, size, and other characteristics.
Bearn Iwm a house
Douglass and his successors built up a They also preserve well in the types of
master chronology for the Southwest
over the last 2,000 years. Beams
recovered from archaeological sites
are dated by matching the beams' ring
soils found through much of the
Southwest. Pollen recovered from
archaeological sites can thus be
analyzed, revealing the types and
i\ A ~ir'd 'i> !;iJ:'!i'.ltj

"
B JI:iTiJTill5Jj
sequences with those of the master frequencies of plants present at the
chronology. By 1930, Douglass could time the site was occupied. Because c tFfv"',:!,,"";i"'r:l"".;j"'i"'<'iii"Jtijiii.
assign calendar dates to many major pollen from some plants is blown over o t):j)/,jW1>"j',l'Jn) Y'
sites, such as the cliff dwellings of many miles, however, pollen analysis
E !!iM"lIi;jiiiJ-H'1l'H:NI
Mesa Verde and Pueblo Bonito - the provides more information on the
first true dates for prehistoric sites region in which the site is located than F _):\~:j}j'~l\IDjt~
anywhere in the world. on vegetation patterns in the
In the Southwestern deserts of the immediate vicinity of the site. chronology of trec--ring growth patterns has been established through the
Hohokam, however, tree-ring dates Paleoenvironmental research has trees with those from historic and prehistoric settlements. Beams
are unavailable because of the scarcity also discovered that nests made by rchaeological sites are compared against that master chronology to date
of trees and the presence of different packrats survive for thousands of
species which lack the regular growth years under certain conditions, and
patterns of the northern ones. As a consist largely of organic matter
result, radiocarbon dating, a less collected by the packrats within a
precise dating method, is used to date short radius of the nest. Thus, nests
Hohokam sites on the rare occasions found near archaeological sites