"Owachomo Bridge" by NPS photo / Neal Herbert , public domain
Natural BridgesArcheology |
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Natural Bridges
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Natural Bridges National Monument
Archeology
Listen carefully while you stand at the rim above Horsecollar Ruin. Can you hear voices
in the wind? Listen for the rhythmic grinding of mano on metate as corn is turned to
flour. Turkeys cackle in a pen while dogs bark. Children laugh as they play among the
rocks. The soft song of a potter at work is interrupted by the shouts of a returning hunting party carrying a bighorn sheep. The sharp pecking sound you hear may be an artist
or shaman carving a new petroglyph.
Migrations:
A Hopi Perspective
Pictograph representing the
Migration of the People
Migrations:
An Archeological
Perspective
“The Hopi today live on or near three mesas
in Northeastern Arizona. In the past they
lived other places as well. Their history is a
story of many migrations—the movements of
clans and villages. The ancestors of the Hopi,
called Hisatsinom, once inhabited many
parts of the American Southwest, including the Natural Bridges area. Archeologists
often refer to them as ancestral Puebloans.
Throughout their migrations the Hisatsinom
clans left markers (pictographs and petroglyphs) to show where they had been. Often they left artifacts from special religious
societies in place and they left markings on
walls to indicate that particular ceremonies
had been performed before the people left.
Religious society leaders gave permission for
such sacred symbols to be put on the walls.
These images make up much of the ‘prehistoric’ rock art now enjoyed by visitors to the
Southwest.”
Archeologists believe that the ancestral
Puebloans occupied this area during three
distinct periods. Between these occupations
were periods of 200 to 300 years when few
people, if any, lived here. Were these the
migrations Mr. Hamana refers to?
but wild plants and game made up more of
the diet. The bow, arrows and pottery were
not made yet, but spears and baskets were.
Homes were small, slab-lined “pithouses.”
A.D. 200 to 400
While hunters and gatherers may have
passed this way earlier, settlement first occurred during this period. Corn was farmed,
Mr. Walter Hamana, Hopi Elder
1992 visit to Natural Bridges rock art sites
A.D. 650 to 725
After 250 years of abandonment, people returned to Cedar Mesa. They brought beans,
and pottery to cook them in. The cultivation of beans enriched the soil with nitrogen
which growing corn had depleted. The bow
and arrow appeared at this time. Larger
homes of connected rooms above ground
replaced pithouses as populations grew.
A.D. 1060 to 1270
Three hundred years after their ancestors
left, the farmers returned. They built homes
of sandstone masonry or mud-packed sticks,
Connections and
Abandonment
Styles of masonry, ceramic decoration and
other artifacts suggest that the people here
were related to those of the Mesa Verde
region to the east. Influences are clearly evident from the Kayenta region to the southwest and the Fremont culture to the north.
Like these people, the inhabitants of Cedar
Mesa left this area for the last time around
A.D. 1270.
Theories and speculation surround this great
abandonment. Some would suggest that raiding nomads forced the ancestral Puebloans
first into the cliffs for defense, then out of
Protection: Why? How?
both on the mesa tops and in alcoves in the
cliffs. South-facing caves provided passive
solar heating and cooling. They often chose
sites near seep springs where water could be
found. The last canyon dwellers left about
A.D. 1270.
the region entirely. Little evidence is found
to support this theory and it is believed
that groups like the Navajo, Apache, Ute
and Paiute did not arrive until well after the
abandonment. Another theory suggests that
the people had overused the fragile soil and
timber resources. This would have caused
increased erosion and reduction in crops,
wild game and water supplies. Still others
believe that the people simply reached the
end of their migrations when they arrived
where their descendants, the Hopi, Zuni and
Rio Grande peoples, live today.
These places are critically important to all of
us. Mr. Hamana and others have their roots
here. Hundreds of years of their history are
written on the stone walls of these canyons.
We frequently see these ruins and rock art
only as curiosities, but perhaps they can
teach us about our history and our future.
enforced federal and state laws, notably the
Antiquities Act of 1906 and the Archeological
Resources Protection Act (ARPA) of 1979.
These laws provide substantial fines and jail
terms for site damage or the removal of even
one small artifact such as a piece of pottery
or part of an arrowhead.
It is easy to distance ourselves from the
ancestral Puebloans through time and technology. After all, what can we learn from
a “primitive” culture such as theirs? Quite
simply, they were people with the same basic
needs as people today. They faced hunger,
population growth, floods, drought and
war. We face many of the same problems
hundreds of years later: hunger, exponential population growth, rapid technological
change, diseases from cancer to AIDS, and
wars fought over scarce resources, religious
differences and skin color. Our advanced
culture has much to learn from the successes
and failures of those who dealt with similar
problems in the “primitive” past.
Remember, if an artifact is taken or rock art
defaced, no fine or jail term can replace or
repair it. Its spiritual, scientific and educational value are lost to all of us forever.
Archeological sites are extremely fragile, they
often hold spiritual significance for Native
Americans, and their scientific value depends
on artifacts remaining exactly where they
are. All of these sites are protected by strictly
EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA
If you find an archeological site, observe the
following:
1. Don’t touch, chalk or make rubbings of
rock art. Skin oils will destroy it.
2. Don’t enter rooms or sit, stand or lean on
walls. Most are not stabilized. Enjoy sites
from a distance.
3. Leave everything exactly as you found
it. Interesting artifacts should be left and
reported to park rangers.
4. Watch children and other visitors, and
tactfully explain these rules if they seem
unaware of them.
5. Leave each place as you would like to find
it. Your children will thank you!
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