Past and Present of The Indians of The Southwest
|
|
|
Past and Present of The Indians of The Southwest |
|
|
|
|
 |
|||
|
By Julio Punch Bandelier National Monument About 40 miles (75 km) from Santa Fe is one of the 330 National Parks of the US: Bandelier National Monument. It is one of the most impressive national monuments in the Southwest. A terrain of 33,000 acres contains ruins that the Anasazi left us and also provides possibilities for hikers and campers. Campers do have to obtain permission beforehand from the park personnel. I was, of course, mainly interested in the ruins. On the way there in the car and I noticed that we were suddenly climbing and at the same time the number of trees was increasing and it was becoming much greener around us. When we reached the top of the canyon we stumbled upon a small house where you have to pay the entrance fee. You pay 10 dollar per car with everything in it. With the ticket you can visit the monument for a full week and you also get an interesting booklet with information. After that we were descending quite a while until we reached the parking lot near the visitor’s center. It was a weekday, so it was nice and quiet. Outside the visitor’s center there was a group of people gathering around a lady who was just about to give a tour. When I joined the group it turned out that she was not a ranger but leading a commercial tour. She told us, however, that it was fine to listen in. One of the good things about this monument is that you can see dwellings from different stages in the history of the Anasazi. You can see cave dwellings, houses that are built against the wall of the canyon and the ruins of what once was a pueblo with 400 rooms. Most of the ruins are situated in a canyon called the Canyon des Frivoles. The English translation of this Spanish term is “Canyon of The Happy People”, which indicates that the people who lived there were happy. How could they deduct that from archeological research, I wondered during my visit? But now I write this and think about it again, I must confess that this monument somehow breathes a pleasant atmosphere. Other ruins of the Anasazi are forlorn and desolate. The natural beauty is also worth the trip. The park is also known for it’s bats. You can choose between hikes of 1, 2 or 4 hours, depending on how much time you have. The visitor’s center contains a book store with all the books about Bandelier for sale and also a museum with sculpted human figures for which Indians of the region stood model. The museum tries to show how people have lived there through the ages. The monument is named after Adolph Bandelier (1840-1914). Bandelier was born in Switzerland in 1840. His father was a businessman and wanted his son to succeed him, but Adolph was more interested in History and Archeology. He received no formal training in either of these sciences and could be called an autodidact. The Indians of Cochiti Pueblo brought him to the Canyon des Frivoles. “It was the most beautiful thing I ever saw” he would later say. A great deal of the information he obtained through his extensive fieldwork in the canyon he used for a novel he wrote called “The Delight Makers”. This novel is more than 400 pages long, was very successful when it was first published and is still available today. There’s a big kiva amongst the ruins. This circular kiva has a radius of 9 feet (3 meters) and is 8 feet (2 meters) deep. It’s wrong to think that these ruins have been lying there for all those hundreds of years in this state and haven’t been touched by anyone. When Bandelier found this kiva it was full op branches and debris. The park staff also uses modern means, among others a modern and weatherproof cement to prevent these ruins from deteriorating any further. The guide pointed out the sipapu in the kiva, which had been reinstalled by the Park Service. Nearly all kivas, including present ones, have a sipapu. A sipapu is a hole or a stone with a hole in it, which symbolizes the hole from which man emerged into this world from the Pueblo origin myth. The sipapu, the fire in the middle of the kiva and a ventilator shaft that brings fresh air into the kiva form one line that runs from north to south. This is also true of many contemporary kivas. The summit of Bandelier is without doubt a ruin called Tyoni. It used to be a circular pueblo with 400 rooms and three kivas. The ruin is most impressive when seen from a distance. One of the trails gives you thi The former occupants of Bandelier are called Anasazi. Anasazi means “Ancestor” or “Enemy of the Ancestor” in the Navaho language. Because of the last translation many people have chosen to call these people “Ancestral Puebloans”. Although it will take some time before the former term has replaced the latter. The occupants of Bandelier farmed. The most important crop was maize. A cultural element that, like so many others, came from Central America. They also grew beans and squash. The meat of deer, rabbits, squirrels and different species of birds supplemented the diet. They obtained these either by hunting of by setting snares. In the summer the men wore breechcloths and the women dresses. In the winter months capes were worn that were made of yucca fibers, with turkey feathers and rabbit skins woven into them. Most activities took place in the open air. The Anasazi made use of an extensive trading network that reached from Baja California into what is now Mexico. In this way they obtained objects like parrots and turquoise. When the first groups of people settled here, they lived in small groups of people probably not larger than two families. Between 1150 and 1325 the population increased dramatically and people started living in large sedentary settlements (pueblos) with up to 40 rooms. The next two and a half-centuries they built even bigger settlements, which also meant that the number of settlements decreased. The kivas were now three times bigger than in the past. Some people conjecture from this that the importance of religion in their society grew. Bandelier experienced its climax late in the 15th century. After that is was abandoned. Most scientists believe that the contemporary Indians of Cochiti and San Ildefonso Pueblo are the descendants of the people who lived at Bandelier. One of the reasons for this assumption is linguistic evidence. Visit the website of Bandelier National Monument. Institute of American Indian Arts Museum Just a few minutes walk away from the Indian Market of Santa Fe you will find the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum. Like almost the whole of downtown Santa Fe it is built in the traditional Pueblo style. I visited the museum on September the 11th and as a gesture towards the horrid tragedy that took place one year earlier all museums in New Mexico were free on that day. This is the only museum in the US that is completely dedicated to American Indian Art. The museum is a lot smaller than you would suspect from the outside. The exhibition will not disappoint you though. The museum is basically an extension of the Institute of American Indian Arts, an art academy for Native Americans that was established in 1962. It was the first institute in the US that gave Native Americans the opportunity to improve their artistic skills. It’s the only art academy in the US that’s exclusively for Native Americans. In the museum a short documentary entitled “Indians of The Southwest” is shown to give some general information about the Indians of the Southwest. The other rooms in the museum are used to exhibit art of teachers, students and former students of the Institute of American Indian Arts. Most of the art consists of paintings. They do not provide much information with the paintings, but there are some truly beautiful paintings in the collection that I, to my regret, was not allowed to photograph. Once again I noticed that the traditional Indian identity is a factor that is very present in art made by Indians, even in contemporary art. Visit the website of the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum. Indian Arts Research Center On a journey like this there are always things that are not planned, but are recommended on location. And so it was with the Indian Arts Research Center in Santa Fe. I had heard that an enormous collection of Native American art was kept in this institute. That I had to see. After a telephone call it turned out that due to certain circumstances a part of the collection was not open to the public. It was still possible to drop by on a Friday afternoon to have a look at the collection for a reduced entrance fee. About 12 other people were also there for the tour. Cameras and bags of any size were forbidden. At that moment I thought that was a bit exaggerated, but I would soon learn the reason. A white lady of about 40 gave the tour. The first room she let us see was a kind of handicraft room where she explained the purpose and working-method of the institute and the meaning of the Katchinas. A rich American lady, Emilia Elizabeth White, founded the institute. She was born on 28 August 1878 and died, exactly to the day, 94 years later. She was buried next to the institute. Around 1920 she began collecting Native American art. In 1922 the institute was founded, although it did not carry the current name. The center began as a privately owned institute, but is now part of the School of American Research. It serves both Native Americans and scientists. You could say that they “keep” certain objects for the Indians. Some of these objects, the Katchinas for example, are frozen so that they will not deteriorate in any way. The collection is accessible to the Indians at all times. Objects are never sold. One of the objects that is kept here is the robe that chief White Antelope wore during the Sand Creek massacre. Every two years the Southern Cheyenne take the robe to their reservation for ceremonial purposes. The institute also offers a studio for Native American artists where they can work for a couple of months. Regularly classes of Indian children visit the institute for tours. Katchina dolls are in fact miniature versions of spiritual beings that play a very important role in the religion of the Hopi and the Zuni. The dolls’ main purpose was to make girls familiar with the Katchinas in a playful manner. Boys were initiated in the kiva when they reached the right age. The Zuni also have these dolls, although they are bigger than those of the Hopi. The Zuni named them Cloud People and these beings are of course associated with the rain that is necessary for successful farming. After that they let us into another room with a ceiling that was at least 16 foot high. The racks that were almost as high as the ceiling were stuffed with baskets, pottery and so much more. I then understood why they were so fussy about taking bags into the vaults. This is one of the biggest collections of Native American art on this earth and the total estimated worth would be several billions of dollars. The guide explained the different phases of making pottery. The entire family is involved in some way in the process. The children have to collect horse dung, a task they do not always enjoy. The clay is always obtained in the surrounding area of the pueblo. Indian potters never use a moving disc for making pottery. There’s a good reason for this. It has to do with the consistency of the clay. If you would use this clay on a moving disk it would only fly in all directions. All decorations are applied before the pot goes into the fire. During this last procedure, that also determines the final color, 20 to 50 percent of the pots are damaged. Of course the name of Maria Martinez, the famed godmother of pueblo Indian pottery, was mentioned during the tour. Her children and grandchildren carry on the tradition. You must be cautious in case you want to buy pottery made by Maria Martinez (in case you have the money). The guide told us that “if Maria Martinez truly made all the pots of which it is said that she made them, she would have become 300 instead of 93”. The institute also has an enormous collection of woven baskets. The sizes range from baskets that could easily fit into your mailbox to baskets with a diameter of two feet. Something very common on these baskets is that the maker has left one line open in the pattern. Through this line evil can escape. The butterfly is a much-used motive on baskets. Because of the many stages a butterfly has to pass through before attaining its final form, the butterfly is a symbol for rebirth and generation. The institute also has several Navaho blankets. Contrary to their neighbors the Pueblo tribes, the weaving is done by the women among the Navaho. The weaving is always done without a preconceived pattern. Some blankets might take up to one year to complete; the price can amount to 20.000 dollar. Visit the website of the Indian Arts Research Center. Aztec Ruins National Monument Before I embarked on my journey I was planning to visit the famous ruins of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. However, these ruins are, as the saying goes, right in the middle of nowhere. The question why the Anasazi settled there is almost as mystifying as the question of why they eventually left the area. Moreover, to reach Chaco Canyon you have to ride a long distance on a road that is actually meant for a four wheel drive vehicle. In this area there is always an alternative to be found as far as Native Americans are concerned. That alternative became Aztec Ruins National Monument. I had heard that the only reconstructed great kiva could be found there and that prospect of seeing it was also very attractive. This monument is opened every day from eight in the morning to five in the afternoon. In the visitor’s center you pay the entrance fee of eight dollars per person. From the visitor’s center you can walk on to the ruins. There is also a small museum in the visitor’s center where you can admire pottery that When you see aerial photographs of the ruins you can see that the ground plan is a perfect rectangle, something you don’t really notice if you walk around in the ruins. Due to the Animas River this piece of land was fertile and very well suited for agriculture. That was without doubt the reason that the first people settled there. Late in the 11th century groups of Anasazi began founding bigger communities. One of them was on a high piece of land that looked out on the river. The first dwellings and kivas were built at that time. Around 1111 a lot of wood was used from the surrounding area and with it a complex was built of 400 interconnected rooms and one big kiva that was probably also used for non-religious activities. This happened in a time-span of only ten years. Between 200 and 300 people lived at Aztec. The occupants were related to the Anasazi of Chaco Canyon and this influenced their architecture, pottery and religion. Scientists suspect that Aztec was an “outlier” in a complex that had Chaco Canyon at its center. After a period of prosperity that lasted 50 years as a religious, administrative and trade center, Aztec was deserted. A short while later, around 1200, a group of Anasazi Indians that were related to the Indians of Mesa Verde settled at Aztec. They built new buildings and completed other buildings that were not yet completed. That’s the reason that in some walls in this complex you can discern two different styles of masonry. These new occupants would also leave at a certain stage. Around 1300 the Anasazi had deserted the entire San Juan basin. The precise reason for this we will probably never know. Research has shown that before 1300 a persistent draught harassed the Southwest. The Anasazi also encountered aggressive newcomers who spoke Athapaskan languages. Another factor that we must take into account is that the land could have been depleted through agriculture and the game in the area also through over-hunting. Some say that religious problems could also have played a role. The complex was set on fire after it was left, though it has never been ascertained if this was done by the occupants of the complex or by other tribes. The pueblo Indians of today view the ruins as a holy site. When white people saw these ruins for the first time they thought that the Aztecs had built the complex, as it looked so advanced. Nothing could be farther from the truth. These ruins had long been deserted before the Aztec Empire reached its high point. It was a shame that these ruins encountered a phenomenon that is every archeologists’ worst nightmare and is a true plague in Latin America: grave robbing. In some areas on this planet archeology has become a race against time in which archeologists have to beat the grave robbers to the clock, something they often fail at. From 1889 onwards the ruins were reasonably safe because they became private property. In 1916 archeologists began excavating the site. A number of buildings were either reconstructed or stabilized. The great kiva is a masterpiece of reconstruction. It has a diameter of 15 feet (5 meter) and from the ceiling to the floor there’s 20 feet (7 meter). The great kiva is partly underground. From the inside it does look a lot like a building made by the Aztecs. To be able to see such a structure from the inside the way the builders would have seen it, is a unique experience. Of course we cannot be a 100 percent sure how it looked like back then, but every effort was made to reconstruct the kiva as authentically as possible. Visit the website of Aztec Ruins National Monument. Acoma Pueblo, The City in The Sky To reach the famous Acoma Pueblo from Albuquerque a reasonably large distance has to be covered. It’s a 2,5 hour drive. It seemed as if all the Pueblos of New Mexico were on either sides of the highway. Time and time again they were marked. Tesuque, Santa Ana, Cochiti and so on and so on. The number of casino’s I saw was at least as high as the number of Pueblos, although I had the impression there were more. The reservation of the Acoma is no exception to this rule and has a very voluminous casino. After having driven around the reservation for some time and having climbed quite a bit, I was suddenly taken by surprise by the beautiful view. There’s a parking lot You must pay at the visitor’s center if you want to partake with the tour through the pueblo. Adults pay 10 dollars, people older that 60 9 dollars, and children 7 dollars. A photography permit is 10 dollar. Filming and digital camera’s are strictly prohibited. Walking around the pueblo by your self is not permitted. In the visitor’s center a film is shown about the Pueblo Indians and you can buy all kinds of souvenirs there like mugs and baseball caps. On the large parking lot outside there are several stands on which tribal members offer pottery and other crafts for sale. All participants for the tour, which takes place once every hour from 9.00 AM to 16.00 PM, are taken up the mesa in a bus. The road is so steep that it becomes a bit scary for a person from the Netherlands. The bus driver does this many times a day and for him it’s the most normal thing on earth. The bus driver delivered us to The City in The Sky. You do get the feeling here that if you jump high enough, you can grab a piece of cloud. A somewhat heavily built Indian man, to put it mildly, in his mid-twenties was assigned to the group as a guide. It was a bit of a pity that he did his work as if it was a routine. He summed up the information rather fast, asked if It was no wonder then that Acoma Pueblo, just like all the other 22 pueblos of the Southwest, took part in the revolt of 1680. The logs are still clearly visible on the ceiling of the church. Some logs were carved to look like candles. These logs were painted white and red and this represents the amalgamation of Native beliefs with Christianity. Most objects in the church are from the time period 1600 to 1800; this is also true of the copper bell in the church tower that was a gift from the King of Spain. Nowadays the church is only used once a year during the feast of San Estevan (the patron saint of the pueblo) on 2 September. The figure of the saint is then transported to the pueblo plaza. Regular churchgoers among the Acoma visit a church that is situated outside of the pueblo. There’s a cemetery outside the church. Many wooden crosses still stand upright in the sun, but the cemetery hasn’t been in use for a very long time. Taking photographs of the cemetery or the inside of the church is forbidden. The cemetery is surrounded on three sides by adobe walls with cone shaped protuberances with faces painted on them. These “warriors” must watch over the dead. In the past these faces were turned outward to give enemies the impression that warriors were on the lookout. According to their own tribal lore the Acoma once lived in the north. The legends tell us of a migration. They believed at that time that somewhere there was a perfect place for them that was destined for them. When they found this place, they settled on top of it. This was the Enchanted Mesa, the mesa that is the closest to the contemporary pueblo. According to legend, one day, when nearly the entire tribe was working down below in the fields, a terrible weather storm broke out. All paths up the mesa were destroyed. Only a young girl and an older woman remained on the mesa. They threw themselves off the mesa so they wouldn’t have to starve to death. For a long time scientists doubted if there ever lived any people on top of Enchanted Mesa, but recent research has proved that this definitely was the case. The occupants themselves claim that their pueblo is the oldest continually inhabited community in North America. It must be said that the village of Old Oraibi on the reservation of the Hopi Indians is also a potential candidate for this title. Archeologists have discovered that human occupation on the mesa goes back at least to the year 1150. 100 years ago Acoma was a thriving community with more than 1200 members. Now, only 40 remain. Most tribal members live in “satellite towns” like Acomita, Anzac and McCarty’s. 17 children live in the p The guide explained that every family still owns a dwelling in the pueblo. These residences are sometimes taken into use when ceremonies are held in the pueblo or just to be able to enjoy the coolness in the summer that these dwellings offer. The next stop of the tour offered a magnificent view. The guide explained that it used to be an enormous advantage to be able to look around 360 degrees for several miles. In the past you could see enemies approaching from several miles away. The fields, where mainly maize was cultivated, were below. Once, in 1696, the Spaniards destroyed them. On top of the mesa itself there’s only one puddle of water and two trees. The dwellings, which sometimes reach up to three levels, offered a couple of photogenic opportunities that I didn’t miss out on. It’s a bit strange to see portable toilets standing in front of dwellings that must be hundreds of years old. In The Netherlands you often see them where construction workers are at work. They look like telephone cells without windows. When the guide told us that the temperatures could drop below freezing point in the winter I realized that it wouldn’t be all that pleasant to have to do your business outside in such circumstances! Acoma has five kivas that, contrary to the kivas in certain other pueblos, are square and above ground. The entrance is always through the ceiling, so that you get the impression of descending into an underworld. The guide told us that the kivas used to be circular, but that the Acoma switched to building square kivas so that the Spaniards would think they were regular dwellings. They even made a small opening that functioned as a small intercom through which people could make their presence known if ceremonies took place in secret. As in the past, the kivas are not exclusively for ceremonial purposes. It is sometimes said that the Acoma set up portable televisions in their kivas when the World Series are held, so that they can watch the games from there. Only boys and men could enter a kiva, except when it was used as a hiding place. The ladder that provides entrance to the kiva always pointed to the north, the place where the Acoma came from, and functions as a compass. After the tour you can return to one of the stands in the pueblo where homemade arts and crafts are sold. They each carry a number and visitors are asked to remember this number, so that after the tour you can be escorted back to the stand to make your purchase. You can return to the visitor’s center by bus or by descending an age-old trail that the occupants used in the past to climb up and down the mesa. If you choose for the last option: it is not entirely without risk. The steps are unequal, you have to pass through narrow crevices and be in reasonably good physical shape. For me this was an enjoyable conclusion of an interesting afternoon. Click on the leaves to read the other parts of my travel log: Part one: The Pueblo Indian Cultural Center, the Indian Market of Santa Fe, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and Taos Pueblo. Part two: Bandelier National Monument, Indian Arts Research Center, Aztec Ruins National Monument and Acoma Pueblo. Part three: Mesa Verde National Park, Navajo Code Talkers Exhibit and Monument Valley Tribal Park. Part four: Grand Canyon National Park, Wupatki National Monument, the reservation of the Hopi Indians and the Museum of Northern Arizona. |
|||
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||||
|
Text and photographs, copyright, Julio Punch, 2003 |
||||||||
s unique opportunity. Humans inhabited this area for 500 years. Not all ruins were occupied at the same time.
was dug up on the site. A film about the Anasazi is shown in the museum. You can get a manual in the museum that explains 14 numbered sites in the ruins.
where you can stop and digest the view for a couple of minutes. There is a signpost with information about Acoma, The City in The Sky. The view is difficult to describe with words. It looks like a colossal valley in which all slopes are 90 degrees. Right in the middle stands a monolith with upon it, if you look closely, signs of human occupation. Of course I couldn’t resist photographing the magnificent view. The second I pushed the button on my camera a small van stopped on the parking lot. A tribal policeman rolled down the window and asked me for my photography permit. I startled because it was not my intention to break rules that were made by my guests. I explained that we were heading towards the visitor’s center and would buy a photography permit there. Then the man said that everything was OK and disappeared as fast as he had appeared.
there were any questions and walked on to the next spot. The tour began at the church. The building of the church commenced in 1629 and was completed in 1640. This took place under the directions of Father Ramirez, who was accepted by the residents because he saved a baby’s life when he first arrived at the pueblo. The residents had to carry logs from very far away up those incredibly sleep slopes. If they let a log fall, they were whipped, had to leave the log where it fell and fetch a new one.
ueblo. They are fetched each day by a school bus that takes them to a school in Acomita, about 40 miles away. Since a few years the tribal language, Keres, is taught at the school. Seven other pueblos also speak this language.
