Chapter 13

In almost every house that bore evidence of former occupancy, beautifully made mullers and metates were exhumed. These were ordinarily in place in the corner of the chamber, and were much worn, as if by constant use. In one grave there was found a metate reversed over a skeleton, probably that of a woman--although the bones were so disintegrated that the determination of the sex of the individual was impossible. Several of these metates were taken by Indian women, who prized them so highly that they loaded the stones on burros and carried them ten miles to Walpi, where they are now applied to the same purpose for which they were used over two centuries ago.

On the surface of the mesa, beyond the extension of the ground plan of the ruin, there are many depressions worn in the rocks where the Awatobi women formerly whetted their grinding stones, doubtless in the manner practiced by the modern villagers of Tusayan. These depressions are especially numerous near the edge of the cliff, between the eastern and western sections of the ruin.[90]

BONE OBJECTS

A large and varied collection of bone implements was gathered at Awatobi, and a few additional specimens were exhumed from Sikyatki. It is worthy of note that, as a rule, bone implements are more common in houses than in graves; and since the Awatobi excavations were conducted mostly in living rooms, while those at Sikyatki were largely in the cemeteries, the bone implements from the former pueblo far outnumber those from the latter.

The collection consists of awls, bodkins, needles, whistles, and tubes made of the bones of birds and quadrupeds. The two animals which contributed more than others to these objects were the turkey and the rabbit, although there were fragments of the horns and shin-bones of the antelope or deer. Several of these specimens were blackened by fire, and one was stained with green pigment. There was also evidence of an attempt at ornamenting the implements by incised lines, while one was bound with string. Bones of animals which had served for food were very common in all the excavations at Awatobi, especially near the floors of the houses. With the exception of a number of large bones of a bear, found in one of the houses in the northern range of the eastern section, these bones were not carefully collected.

Plate CXIV gives a general idea of some of the forms of worked bone which were obtained. Figure _a_ shows an awl, for the handle of which one of the trochanters was used, the point at the opposite end being very sharp; _b_ and _c_ are similar objects, but slighter, and more carefully worked; _d_ is a flattened bone implement perforated with two holes, and may have been used as a needle. There are similar implements in the collection, but with a single terminal perforation. Other forms of bone awls are shown in _e_, _f_, _g_, and _j_.

There are a number of bone objects the use of which is problematical. One of the best of these is a section of the tibia of a bird, cut longitudinally, convex on the side represented in plate CXIV, _h_, and concave on the opposite side. When found this bone fragment was tied to a second similar section by a string (remnants of which can be seen in the figure), thus forming a short tube. The use of this object is not known to me, nor were any satisfactory suggestions made by the Indians whom I consulted in relation to it. This does not apply, however, to the object illustrated in plate CXIV, _i_, which was declared by several Hopi to be a bird whistle, similar to that used in ceremonials connected with medicine making.

The manner in which a bone whistle is used in imitation of a bird's call has been noticed by me in the accounts of several ceremonials, and I will therefore quote the description of its use in the _Nimankatcina_ at Walpi.[91]

Then followed an interval of song and accompanying rattle, at the termination of which Intiwa's associate took the bird whistle (_tatükpi_) and blew three times into the liquid, making a noise not unlike that produced by a toy bird whistle. This was repeated four times, accompanied by song and rattle. He first inserted the bone whistle on the north side, then on the other cardinal points in turn. The monotonous song and rattle then ceased, and Intiwa sprinkled corn pollen on the ears of corn in the water, and upon the line of pahos.

The object of the whistle is to call the summer birds which are associated with planting and harvesting. The whistle figures in many rites, especially in those connected with the making of medicine or charm liquid.

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS

ORNAMENTS IN THE FORM OF BIRDS AND SHELLS

In the excavations, as well as on the surface of the mounds at Awatobi, were found many imitations of marine shells made of clay, often painted red and ranging from the size of half a dollar to that of the thumb nail (plate CLXXIII, _j-m_). On the convex surface of these objects parallel lines are etched, and they are pierced at the valves for suspension. I have never found them suspended from the neck of a skeleton, although their general appearance indicates that they were used as ornaments. Similarly made clay images of birds (plate CLXXIII, _g_, _h_, _i_) with extended wings were also found, and of these there are several different forms in the collection. A small perforated knob at the breast served for attachment. In the absence of any better explanation of these objects, I have regarded them as gorgets, or pendants, for personal decoration.

In the Awatobi collections there are several small disks made apparently of pipe clay, which also were probably used as ornaments. These are very smooth and wonderfully regular in shape--in one case with a perforation near the rim. Turquois and shell beads were found in considerable numbers in the excavations at Awatobi, but, as they are similar to those from Sikyatki, I have reserved a discussion of them for following pages. A few fragments of shell armlets and wristlets were also exhumed. These were made generally of the Pacific coast _Pectunculus_, so common in the ruins of the Little Colorado.[92]

CLAY BELL

Copper bells are said to be used in the secret ceremonials of the modern Tusayan villages, and in certain of the ceremonial foot races metal bells of great age and antique pattern are sometimes tied about the waists of the runners. Small copper hawk bells,[93] found in southern Arizonian ruins, are identical in form and make with those used by the ancient Nahuatl people. So far as the study of the antiquities of the ruins of Tusayan immediately about the inhabited towns has gone, we have no record of the finding of copper bells of any great age. It was, therefore, with considerable interest that I exhumed from one of the rooms of the westernmost or oldest section of Awatobi a clay bell (figure 261) made in exact imitation of one of the copper bells that have been reported from several southern ruins (plate CLXXIII, _a_). While it may be said that it would be more decisive evidence of the prehistoric character of this object if Awatobi had not been under Spanish influence for over a century, still, from the position where it was dug up and its resemblance to metal bells which are undoubtedly prehistoric, there seems to be little reason to question its age. As with the imitation of marine shells in clay, it is probable that in this bell we have a facsimile of a metal bell with which the ancient Tusayan people were undoubtedly familiar.[94]

TEXTILE FABRICS

In the very earliest accounts which we have of Tusayan the Hopi are said to raise cotton and to weave it into mantles. These mantles, or "towels" as they were styled by Espejo, were, according to Castañeda, ornamented with embroidery, and had tassels at the corners. In early times garments were made of the fiber of the maguey, and of feathers and rabbit skins. Fabrics made of animal fiber are mentioned by Friar Marcos de Niza, and he was told that the inhabitants of Totonteac obtained the material from which they were made from animals as large as the greyhounds which the father had with him. The historical references which can be mentioned to prove that the Tusayan people, when they were first visited, knew how to spin and weave are numerous, and need not be quoted here. That the people of Awatobi made cotton fabrics there is no doubt, for it is distinctly stated by early visitors that they were acquainted with the art of weaving, and some of the presents made to the first Spanish explorers were of native cotton.

The archeological evidence supports the historical in this particular, and several fragments of cloth were found in our excavations in the western mounds of the village. These fragments were of cotton and agave fiber, of cotton alone, and in one instance of the hair of some unknown animal. No signs of the famous rabbit-skin blankets were seen, and from the perishable nature of the material of which they were made it would be strange if any traces had been discovered. At Sikyatki a small textile fragment made of feathers was found in one of the burial vases, but no feather garments or even fragments of the same were unearthed at Awatobi.

A woven rope of agave fiber and many charred strings of the same material were found in a niche in the wall of a house in the eastern section, and from the same room there was taken a string, over a yard long, made of human hair. It was suggested to me by one of the Hopi that this string was part of the coiffure of an Awatobi maid, and that it was probably used to tie up her hair in whorls above the ears, as is still the Hopi custom.

The whole number of specimens of textile fabrics found at Awatobi was small, and their character disappointing for study, for the conditions of burial in the soil are not so good for their preservation as in the dry caves or cliff houses, from which beautifully preserved cloth, made at a contemporary period, has been taken.

PRAYER-STICKS--PIGMENTS

Among the most significant mortuary objects used by the ancient Tusayan people may be mentioned the so-called prayer-sticks or pahos. These were found in several graves, placed on the breast, in the hand, or at the side of the person interred, and have a variety of form, as shown in the accompanying illustrations (plates CLXXIV, CLXXV). As I shall discuss the forms and meaning of prayer-sticks in my account of Sikyatki, where a much larger number were found, I will simply mention a few of the more striking varieties from Awatobi.

One of the most instructive of these objects is flat in shape, painted green, and decorated with figures of a dragon-fly. As this insect is a symbol of rain, its occurrence on mortuary objects is in harmony with the Hopi conception of the dead which will later be explained.

Pahos, in the form of flat slats with a notched extension at one end were common, but generally were poorly preserved. The prayer-sticks from the shrine in the middle of the rooms in the plaza of the eastern section crumbled into fragments when exposed to the air, but they were apparently small, painted green, and decorated with black spots. On several of the prayer-sticks the impressions of the string and feathers that were formerly attached are still readily seen. It is probable that the solution of a carbonate of copper, with which the green pahos were so colored, contributed to the preservation of the wood of which they had been manufactured.

The only pigments detected on the prayer-sticks are black, red, and green, and traces of red are found also on the inner surface of a stone implement from a grave at the base of the mesa. All the pigments used by the modern Tusayan Indians were found in the intramural burial already described. My Hopi workmen urged me to give them small fragments of these paints, regarding them efficacious in their ceremonials.

OBJECTS SHOWING SPANISH INFLUENCE

We would naturally expect to find many objects of Caucasian origin in the ruins of a pueblo which had been under Spanish influence for a century. I have already spoken of certain architectural features in the eastern part of Awatobi which may be traced to the influence of the Spanish missionaries, and of small objects there were several different kinds which show the same thing. The old iron knife-blade already mentioned as having been found among the corn in a storage chamber in the northern row of houses was not the only metallic object found. Not far from the mission there were unearthed many corroded iron nails, a small hook of the same metal, a piece of cast copper, and a fragment of what appeared to be a portion of a bell. There were several pieces of glass, the surfaces of which had become ground by the sand which had beaten upon them during the years in which they had been exposed. There was found also a fragment of a green glazed cup, which was undoubtedly of Spanish or Mexican make, and sherds of white china similar to that sold today by the traders. These latter specimens were, as a rule, found on the surface of the ground.

It will therefore appear that the archeology of Awatobi supports the documentary evidence that the pueblo was under Spanish influence for some time, and the fact that all the above-mentioned objects were taken on or in the eastern mounds emphasizes the conclusion that this section of the town was the part directly under Spanish influences. Nothing of Spanish manufacture was found in the rooms of the western mounds, but from this negative evidence there is no reason to suspect that this section of Awatobi was not inhabited contemporaneously with that in the vicinity of the mission.

THE RUINS OF SIKYATKI

TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE PUEBLO

Very vague ideas are current regarding the character of Hopi culture prior to Tobar's visit to Tusayan in 1540, and with the exception of the most meager information nothing concerning it has come down to us from early historical references in the sixteenth century. It is therefore interesting to record all possible information in regard to these people prior to the period mentioned, and this must be done mainly through archeology.

Although there are many Tusayan ruins which we have every reason to believe are older than the time of Coronado, no archeologist has gathered from them the evidences bearing on prehistoric Tusayan culture which they will undoubtedly yield. Large and beautiful collections of pottery ascribed to Tusayan ruins have shown the excellent artistic taste of the ancient potters of this region, indicating that in the ceramic art they were far in advance of their descendants. But these collections have failed to teach, the lesson they might have taught, from the fact that data concerning the objects composing them are so indefinite. Very little care had been taken to label these collections accurately or to collect any specimens but those which were strikingly beautiful or commercially valuable. It was therefore with the hope of giving a more precise and comprehensive character to our knowledge of Tusayan antiquities that I wished to excavate one of the ruins of this province which was undoubtedly prehistoric. Conditions were favorable for success at the mounds called by the Indians Sikyatki.[95] These ruins are situated near the modern Tusayan pueblos of East Mesa, from which I could hire workmen, and not far from Keam's Canyon, which could be made a base of supplies. The existing legends bearing on these ruins, although obscure, are sufficiently definite for all practical purposes.

I find no mention of Sikyatki in early historical documents, nor can the name be even remotely identified with any which has been given to a Tusayan pueblo. My knowledge of the mounds which mark the site of this ancient village dates back to 1892, when I visited them with one of the old men of Walpi, who then and there narrated the legend of its destruction by the Walpians previously to the advent of the Spaniards. I was at that time impressed by the extent of the mounds, and prepared a rough sketch of the ground plan of the former houses, but from lack of means was unable to conduct any systematic excavation of the ruin.

Comparatively nothing concerning the ruin of Sikyatki has been published, although its existence had been known for several years previously to my visit. In his brief account Mr Victor Mindeleff[96] speaks of it as two prominent knolls, "about 400 yards apart," the summits of which are covered with house walls. He also found portions of walls on intervening hummocks, but gives no plan of the ruin. The name, Sikyatki, is referred to the color of the sandstone of which the walls were built. He found some of the rooms were constructed of small stones, dressed by rubbing, and laid in mud. The largest chamber was stated to be 9-1/2 by 4-1/2 feet, and it was considered that many of the houses were "built in excavated places around the rocky summits of the knolls."[97] Mr Mindeleff identified the former inhabitants with the ancestors of the Kokop people, and mentioned the more important details of their legend concerning the destruction of the village.

We can rely on the statement that Sikyatki was inhabited by the Kokop or Firewood people of Tusayan, who were so named because they obtained fire from wood by the use of drills. These people are represented today at Walpi by Katci, whose totem is a picture of Masauwû, the God of Fire. It is said that the home of the Firewood people before they built Sikyatki was at Tebuñki, or Fire-house, a round ruin northeastward from Keam's canyon. They were late arrivals in Tusayan, coming at least after the Flute people, and probably before the Honani or Badger people, who brought, I believe, the _katcina_ cult. Although we can not definitely assert that this cultus was unknown at Sikyatki, it is significant that in the ruins no ornamental vessel was found with a figure of a _katcina_ mask, although these figures occur on modern bowls. The original home of the Kokop people is not known, but indefinite legends ascribe their origin to Rio Grande valley. They are reputed to have had kindred in Antelope valley and at the Fire-house, above alluded to, near Eighteen-mile spring.

The ruin of Fire-house, one of the pueblos where the Kokop people are reputed to have lived before they built Sikyatki, is situated on the periphery of Tusayan. It is built of massive stones and differs from all other ruins in that province in that it is circular in form. The round type of ruin is, however, to be seen in the two conical mounds on the mesa above Sikyatki, which was connected in some way with the inhabitants who formerly lived at its base.

The reason the Kokop people left Fire-house is not certain, but it is said that they came in conflict with Bear clans who were entering the province from the east. Certain it is that if the Kokop people once inhabited Fire-house they must have been joined by other clans when they lived at Sikyatki, for the mounds of this pueblo indicate a village much larger than the round ruin on the brink of the mesa northeast of Keam's canyon. The general ground plan of the ruin indicates an inclosed court with surrounding tiers of houses, suggesting the eastern type of pueblo architecture.

The traditional knowledge of the destruction of Sikyatki is very limited among the present Hopi, but the best folklorists all claim that it was destroyed by warriors from Walpi and possibly from Middle Mesa. Awatobi seems not to have taken part in the tragedy, while Hano and Sichomovi did not exist when the catastrophe took place.

The cause of the destruction of Sikyatki is not clearly known, and probably was hardly commensurate with the result. Its proximity to Walpi may have led to disputes over the boundaries of fields or the ownership of the scanty water supply. The people who lived there were intruders and belonged to clans not represented in Walpi, which in all probability kept hostility alive. The early Tusayan peoples did not readily assimilate, but quarreled with one another even when sorely oppressed by common enemies.

There is current in Walpi a romantic story connected with the overthrow of Sikyatki. It is said that a son of a prominent chief, disguised as a _katcina_, offered a prayer-stick to a maiden, and as she received it he cut her throat with a stone knife. He is said to have escaped to the mesa top and to have made his way along its edge to his own town, taunting his pursuers. It is also related that the Walpians fell upon the village of Sikyatki to avenge this bloody deed, but it is much more likely that there was ill feeling between the two villages for other reasons, probably disputes about farm limits or the control of the water supply, inflamed by other difficulties. The inhabitants of the two pueblos came into Tusayan from different directions, and as they may have spoken different languages and thus have failed to understand each other, they may have been mutually regarded as interlopers. Petty quarrels no doubt ripened into altercations, which probably led to bloodshed. The forays of the Apache from the south and the Ute from the north, which began at a later period, should naturally have led to a defensive alliance; but in those early days confederation was not dreamed of and the feeling between the two pueblos culminated in the destruction of Sikyatki. This was apparently the result of a quarrel between two pueblos of East Mesa, or at least there is no intimation that the other pueblos took prominent part in it. It is said that after the destruction some of those who escaped fled to Oraibi, which would imply that the Walpi and Oraibi peoples, even at that early date, were not on very friendly terms. If, however, the statement that Oraibi was then a distinct pueblo be true, it in a way affords a suggestion of the approximate age[98] of this village.

There was apparently a more or less intimate connection between the inhabitants of old Sikyatki and those of Awatobi, but whether or not it indicates that the latter was founded by the refugees from the former I have not been able definitely to make out. All my informants agree that on the destruction of Sikyatki some of its people fled to Awatobi, but no one has yet stated that the Kokop people were represented in the latter pueblo. The distinctive clans of the pueblo of Antelope mesa are not mentioned as living in Sikyatki, and yet the two pueblos are said to have been kindred. The indications are that the inhabitants of both came from the east--possibly were intruders, which may have been the cause of the hostility entertained by both toward the Walpians. The problem is too complex to be solved with our present limited knowledge in this direction, and archeology seems not to afford very satisfactory evidence one way or the other. We may never know whether the Sikyatki refugees founded Awatobi or simply fled to that pueblo for protection.

There appears to be no good evidence that Sikyatki was destroyed by fire, nor would it seem that it was gradually abandoned. The larger beams of the houses have disappeared from many rooms, evidently having been appropriated in building or enlarging other pueblos.

There is nothing to show that any considerable massacre of the people took place when the village was destroyed, in which respect it differs considerably from Awatobi. There is little doubt that many Sikyatki women were appropriated by the Walpians, and in support of this it is stated that the Kokop people of the present Walpi are the descendants of the people of that clan who dwelt at Sikyatki. This conclusion is further substantiated by the statements of one of the oldest members of the Kokop phratry who frequently visited me while the excavations were in progress.