2.1 NATIVE AMERICAN ECOLOGY AND EUROPEAN CONTACT
Pueblos and Spanish in the American Southwest:
Prehistory to 1700

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  2. The Peopling of America
  • 1. Bering Land Bridge: up to 1000 mi. wide.
    • Glaciers block access to south: 25,000-14,000 B.C.E.
  • 2. Humans in Alaska by 12,000 B.C.E.
    • Access south via Rocky Mountain trench; west coast.
  • 3. Humans in present-day U.S. by 9,000 B.C.E.
    • New evidence for eastern U.S. by 10,000 B.C.E.
3. Time Line: American Southwest
  • Paleo-Indian: 9500 B.C.E. to 6000 B.C.E.
  • Hunting of large mammals:
    • Clovis Culture. 9500-8500. Long, leaf-shaped clovis points on atlatls and spears used to hunt mammoth; stone knives to butcher them. (Clovis, N.M.)
    • Folsom Culture. 8500-6000. Fluted points and stone tools used to hunt surviving bison. Stampeding over cliffs and into cul-de-sacs. (Folsom, N.M.)
4. Time Line
  • Archaic cultures. 6000-2000 B.C.E.
  • Small groups of related individuals.
  • Hunting-gathering: Foraging of plants and small mammals along rivers.
  • Foraging, moving with seasons. Storage and cooking pits. Stone and bone chipping, scraping, cutting, and milling of fibers, roots, tubers, and seeds.
  • Small game (birds, rodents) with snares and nets. 
5. Time Line
  • Settled Agriculture: 2000 B.C.E. to 500 A.D.
  • Diffusion of agriculture northward from Mexico.
  • Soil-based revolution after 500 B.C.E.
  • Maize (corn) and squash, later beans, melons, chili peppers.
  • Settled communities, cooperative labor.
6. Southwest Cultures

7. Hohokam

  • Southern Arizona, 300 B.C.E -1500 A.D.
  • Desert, irrigated agriculture.
  • Canal Builders: 30 ft across; 7 ft deep, 8 mi long; irrigate 8000 acres.
  • Salinization forces abandonment of large-scale works.
8. Chaco Canyon: Anasazi
  • Constructed A. D. 900-1150, nw. N.M.
  • 4 story, 600 room pueblos.
  • Ramrod straight 20-30 ft. wide, 50 mile long highways linking whole area.
  • Agricultural calendar. 
9. Chaco Canyon: Sun Dagger
  • Fajada Butte at Chaco Canyon.
  • Solstice and equinox marker.
  • Sliver of sunlight between 2 stone slabs.
  • Falls on 2 spiral petroglyphs.
  • Planting times; year markers.
10. Gila Cliff Dwellings: Mogollon
  • Late 1280s-early 1300s; Mogollon culture.
  • 175 ft. above west fork of Gila River in narrow canyon; 7 natural caves with 42 rooms constructed of Gila stone.
  • Corn, beans, and squash grown beside river; hunting, gathering of wild plants.
11. Mesa Verde: Anasazi 
  • Pithouses, 500 A.D.; 
  • Cliffhouses, 1200 A.D.  
  • Abandoned, ca. 1276 A.D.
12. Acoma Pueblo
  • Acoma: Sky City, N.M. (left).
  • Enchanted Mesa, home of ancestors (rear).
  • Occupied from 1150 A.D. to present.
  • Visited by Coronado in 1540.
  • City is 357 ft. above agricultural plains.
13. Acoma Pueblo Today

14. Corn Mother

  • Iatiku: Mother of the corn clan.
  • Creator of spirits of the 4 seasons.
  • Creator of the katsina--the dead ancestors.
  • Creator of the Chief of the Hunt.
15. Kiva: Sacred Space
  • Emergence place:
  • Shi pa pu, the earthís navel.
  • Circular, like the sky.
  • Hole in roof (center).
  • Corn and Sun mothers emerge.
  • Male space.
  • Fire altar on floor.
  • Stone, animal fetishes on ledges.
16. Water Serpent
  • Horned triangular head, zigzag body.
  • Symbol of lightening and rain.
  • Sheds skin, hence symbol of renewal.
  • Female, symbol of moon, which is also renewed every 28 days.
  • Worshipped by men.
17. Corn Growing
  • Women are keepers of corn plots.
  • Men work in mothers' plots; brothers in sisters'.
  • Corn fetish: ear of corn containing corn mother's spirit.
18. Corn Grinding
  • Women and girls grind corn into meal on stone metates with manos; broil and roast fresh corn.
  • Men play flute to inspire work.
19. Pictographs and Petroglyphs
  • Pictographs made with paint from plants, charcoal, or blood; blown through mouth.
  • Petroglyphs (petro=rock, glyph=carving) made by pecking rock with tool (antler or hammerstone).
  • Petroglyphs may also be pictographs.
20. Petroglyphs

21. Columbus

  • Spanish explorations of New World began with Columbus's voyages in 1492.
  • Explorations of Southwest.
  • Marcos de Niza, 1539.
  • Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, 1540-42.
22. Explorations of the Southwest
  • Francisco Sanchez Chamuscado, 1581.
  • Explored north to Tiwa Pueblos.
  • Friar Augustin Rodriguez and two additional Franciscan friars were left there.
  • Killed by Indians.
  • Antonio de Espejo, 1582
  • 14 soldiers, 1 Franciscan priest, Mexican-Indian servants.
  • Explored Zuni, Hopi, Acoma, Jemez, Zia, Tiwa, and Keres pueblos.
  • Returned via Pecos River to avenge Franciscan deaths. 
23. Don Juan de Onate
  • Expedition to San Juan, N.M. to Christianize and civilize the pueblo Indians, 1598.
  • Burned the pueblo and killed and amputated the feet of Indians in retaliation for resistance.
  • 1605 signature on El Morro rock, N.M.
24. Missions
  • Franciscans established 7 missionary districts.
  • Built churches and chapels.
  • Established workshops for weaving, smithing, leatherwork.
  • Created grazing lands and livestock compounds; gardens and orchards.
25. Effects of Missions on Indians
  • Franciscans established Christianity as religion.
  • Raided Indian houses to eradicate prayer sticks, prayer feathers, and sacred fetishes.
  • Obliterated Indian animism.
  • Prohibited masks and dances.
  • Substituted Virgin Mary for Corn Mother.
26. Ramon Gutierrez's Thesis
  • Colonization, warfare, [and disease] break down pueblo social cohesion.
  • Missionaries substitute Virgin Mary for corn mother; create new roles for women as caretakers of the missionary and men as field workers.
  • Create settled crop and livestock complex around the missions.
  • New security of food production and religion.
27. Discussion Questions
  • Compare Ramon Gutierrez's approach to those of week one. Do you agree with his approach? What are its limitations?
  • Pueblo Indians criticized Gutierrez at a meeting of the Organization of American Historians. On what grounds might they criticize him? Do you agree?