IN TOUCH WITH THE MIMBRES, MOGOLLON, SALADO PROBLEM IN MULE CREEK NEW MEXICO, SOUTHWEST ARCHAEOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL PROBES FOR ANSWERS
Using Stone Axes DIANA TREVIZO and ALEXANDRA NORWOOD try to scrape the bark from the roof poles for the 13th Century Pueblo they are building near Mule Creek, New Mexico. They are building a adobe pueblo at the same time they are digging one up near Cliff.
JOE HALL screens fill from a new room block using window screen for every fourth load. Lots of info can fall through the cracks, like fish bones, turquoise bead.
Students in the 40-day Preservation Archaeology Field School sift through fill from a prehistoric Pueblo called the Dinwiddie Site in east central New Mexico. Fourteen students, the best of the best, 4.0 students were turned away, each student chosen brought a special something to the school. Unlike the traditional Field School this curriculum highlights preservation archaeology, an experimental component has the students building an adobe pueblo like the one they are digging up. Students also compete throwing 4′ Atlatl darts.
The peopling of the South West is a story best told by pottery. Ceramic pottery can tell archaeologist what they ate, where it was made, who made it and with whom the owner traded or aligned with…in a sense what was important to that culture and how successful or influential the culture was, how long it survived, and finally where did they go. But until tree ring dates, the chronology of all the ruins of the southwest, was a mystery until one afternoon when two pieces of charcoal crystalized everything that was known about the prehistory of the South West. In the one hundred years since man began probing the earth beneath their feet looking for secrets from the past much has been learned revealing to archaeologist how little they know or understand about early residents. So new strategies have evolved aided by the quick fresh minds of the next generation of archaeologist, new software that peels back the past, reveals pigment lost by time, using the sum knowledge from the past to build on future studies by incorporating all the data from all the earlier digs, aided by data from neighboring or regional sites. But more importantly, these new-age archaeologist, are tearing down fences that have long existed in the Cliff Valley and getting a first hand look at the prehistoric cultures that once called southwestern New Mexico home.
ALEXANDRA BALLESTEROS
MONICA VEALE
The 2015 Preservation Archaeology Field School staff is a combination of a lot of talent from Archaeology Southwest, Desert Archaeology, ASU and University of Arizona to structure a learning experience for a group of fourteen students who signed up for this opportunity to learn the general field and team work and the lab techniques necessary to extract science and knowledge from the soil.
Students are exposed to the principles of preservation archaeology, acquire the basic skills of excavation and survey, develop working strategies and write notes and reports that apply the logic of archaeological thinking to fieldwork, laboratory analysis, and applying the data we gather to answering anthropological questions. Finally think critically of issues about archaeological ethics.
As prehistoric man moved about he enjoyed a nomadic lifestyle of visiting old haunts places where they might have dropped some seed but most usually had luck hunting or gathering seasonal fruit. As more migrants entered the area, the nomadic Mogollon hunter found himself being crowded out and his old haunts now taken by the Anasazi fleeing their homes south east of Mesa Verde and looking for places to farm and live in safety. Local nomads soon were forced to stay at home and watch the crops.
The Mogollon and the Anasazi Material Cultures merge and disappear as the two groups diverge. Some Archaeologist believe the Kayenta Anasazi was traveling light, carrying what they could, leaving most of their culture behind. The nomadic Mogollon become seditary farmers, adopting some of the practices of their new neighbors, and soon they look pretty much alike. Except for ceramics! Archaeologist believe the Kayenta maintained contact with folks back home, perhaps opening trade connections with folks back home but meanwhile looping in the new immigrants settlements and establishing a trade network. When the bottom dropped out of the Colorado Plateau and everyone started looking for someplace wetter, the Kayenta knew where to go and who to stay with. They thought!
Rough corrugated ceramic pots are a clay signature for the Kayenta Anasazi and corrugated pottery left a trail from the Arizona Strip with some eventually reaching the Rio Grande and more was found south into Arizona Rim Country, visiting Mogollon Pueblos like Kinishba, Grasshopper Pueblo, Point-of-Pines, Cline Terrace. The Kayenta would build fortified hilltops above the floodplain along the Gila and San Pedro Rivers. Many of these sites are linked by signal towers to quickly communicate up and down the stream. The black and white pottery found at Salado sites suggests to some Archaeologist that the Kayenta continued to trade north to south until the end. But then Salado appears and everything changes. Four different archaeologist saw “Salado” arrive in different areas of the South West, but Harold Galdwin of Gila Pueblo received the credit for defining the Salado Culture but 85 years later we still disagree on much.
Agreement seems to be centering on Salado as a religion characterized by a distinct polychrome pottery and adobe compounds. The Salado message centered on fertility and cooperation, instead of honoring elite rulers, and some archaeologist have called it the first feminist movement, because in the day it was believed women did the most potting of clay and saved the South West from self destructing by intervening and preaching peace and working together. Others say shaman wheeled great power by producing the Mimbres Pottery characterized by “kill holes” which released the soul of the potter from the pot after his death.
The pottery design adapted reflected Mesoamerican imagery and changed in time but
researchers believe folks began thinking of themselves as Hohokam Salado or Kayenta Salado.
BREAKFAST can be the quiet time of the day as folks scurry around to make a lunch, finish breakfast and do the dishes and dash off for a full day in the sun.
The Archaeology Southwest Preservation Field School in it’s 5th season is an important component of our Upper Gila research, writes Karen Schollmeyer. “The results of this work contributes to Archaeology Southwest’s research on the formation and dissolution of late prehistoric communities. Dinwiddie’s occupation in the 1300s occurred during a period of substantial changes in the Southwest. Centuries earlier, large Classic Mimbres period villages were inhabited throughout the area. Around 1130, residents left these villages, and local populations remained small and scattered for the next 150-200 years. In the 1300s, large villages again began to form in the area. While people in the Upper Gila area were aggregated in large communities in the late 1300s, much of the rest of the southern Southwest was experiencing population decline. Our research examines the effects of the 14th century influx of residents to the Upper Gila. How did migrants from diverse cultural groups form cohesive villages? How did they structure social relationships with existing communities in their new home? How were social and natural resources affected by the long-term patterns of human population aggregation, dispersal, and re-aggregation? Our research at Dinwiddie will provide insights into these questions.”
Archaeologist Will Russell from ASU works with Alexander Ballesteros and Alisha Stalley to get the knack of working with a trowel in an archaeological dig. The Dinwiddie site was dug
Will Russell, one of ASU’s ceramics experts, oversees the trowel work and lectures the students crawling in the dirt “to move
Negative Mimbres Pottery
from what you know to what you don’t”. Emphasizing the feel of the trowel and how it changes as it moves through the fill. “You can kinda feel these powdery, sugar forms on the floor, so you can see the visual clues…flecks of white (from the floor). You learn to read the vibrations he says. The trowel vibrates differently when hitting large particles and sounds differently–many different senses come in to play when excavating. Time is tight for the group they are half way through the 40 day class and they still have digging to do. Some of their time is filled with their preparation of displays for the community updates, reports, class trips to Silver City, the Gila Cliff Dwellings, Chaco Canyon, Acoma and the Zuni Pueblo. Screening is essential to separate the ceramics from the dirt and every fourth screen is window screen diameter to make sure nothing of importance is slipping through like the bones of fish and prairie dog which supplemented the prehistoric diet here in west central New Mexico.
A morning monsoon drizzle dampens breakfast as students prepare for a wet day in the field.
My first morning in Mule Creek where the field school is headquartered at the Rocker Diamond X Ranch there was a morning drizzle and students scurried around before sunrise eating breakfast, brushing teeth and making lunches and preparing for their day. Everyone has a job each day, each serves as a cog in the wheel and things happened smoothly until dinner when Mary shows up with dinner for the hungry staff, students and visitors. Students divide up into the field crews, survey and the experiemental crew who spend the day with archaeologist Allan Denoyer who is a master flintnapper and he and his crews are putting the finishing touches on a Salado Pueblo which they have constructed during the past field seasons. Denoyer has reverse engineered the adobe pueblos the field crews are excavating at the Dinwiddie Site with hopes the students will gain a greater insight into pueblos by building one as well as digging up what remains of numerous melted room blocks. Students learn to skin the timbers using stone axes and how to construct the roof. All knife work is from obsidian blades that slice as quick and accurately as steel.
Dinwiddie site under excavation near CLIFF New Mexico.
Field Supervisor LESLIE ARAGON pours off buckets of fill taken from the Dinwiddie Ruin dig. Three days will be spent back-filling the excavations with the soil they pain removed.
Students are responsible for blog posts, and displays for community outreach projects which hold public meetings in the region giving archaeologist the opportunity to explain to residents what they are looking for, what they found and often those exchanges open doors to archaeology not presently known and the field school survey crew go out looking for sites people tell them about. One student turned up a ten-room pueblo which was previously unrecorded. The survey crew often camps, to allow more boots on the ground than drive time. The easy duty appears to be the field work until you see there is no shade, students on their hands and knees with metal trowels pushing back the dirt from a solid polished adobe floor.
Ceramic marbles ? Fired in the flame and preserved but why ? Checkers, board games, marbles ?
For the past few days they have turned up almost 50 ceramic marbles of varying diameters and for whose purpose is unknown, today, they turned up a nice 3/4 groove axe head next to the unique t-shaped doorway recently unearthed. At room one, a cry alerts us, a metate and a mano, together, intact–beautifully preserved.
A vocational archaeologist working in the 1960s and 1970s and some early work contributed important information to our knowledge of Salado archaeology. 
These excavations did not follow collection and reporting standards of their era, and information from these older excavations is now unavailable. Collections from these excavations were housed in private museums and everything disappeared upon their owners’ deaths, scattering collections so that they are no longer available for research. The Dinwiddie site saw several field seasons of avocational excavation, with 37 rooms in two room blocks partially excavated by Jack and Vera Mills (1972) they are thought to have taken more than a hundred pots from these rooms, some of those pots reside today in Safford, Arizona at the Museum for Eastern Arizona State.
Archaeology SouthWest’s interest in the Cliff Valley “Dinwiddie” site came as a part of the Upper Gila research, using the field school as an important component of the research, searching for the formation and dissolution of late prehistoric communities. Dinwiddie’s occupation in the 1300s came at a time of big changes in the Southwest. Centuries earlier, large Classic Mimbres period villages had inhabited throughout the area. Around 1130, those residents left these villages, and local populations remained small and scattered for the next 150-200 years. In the 1300s, large villages again began to form. People in the Upper Gila moved into large communities in the late 1300s, while much of the southern Southwest was experiencing population decline. Karen Gust Schollmeyer, believes the Dinwiddie dig will provide insights into the 14th century influx of residents to the Upper Gila. In 2008, Archaeology Southwest received a National Science Foundation grant to study the Salado phenomenon in the greater Upper Gila region of southwestern New Mexico, an area traditionally assigned to the Mogollon archaeological culture area
EXPERIMENTAL FIELD SUPERVISOR ALLAN DENOYER THROWS THE ATLATL DARTS AT A DEER TARGET
Marcy Pablo, a Tohono O’odham from Topawa prepares basket weaves for their “Community OutReach” Pablo intends to assist New Mexican residents to begin weaving their own basket using her starts. The School tries to lower barriers between locals and archaeologist by sharing their research with locals.
JOE HALL (Sierra Vista) and DEVINNE FACKELMAN (Allendale, Mich.) together dug up this Metate and Mano while searching for a wall.
“The Archaeology Southwest Field School was a life changing experience. I learned more about the southwest in those 6 weeks than in my two and a half years prior exploring in Southeastern Arizona. I had just graduated from Cochise College with a degree in Anthropology and immediately attended the ASW Field School with no real experience in archaeology. I am so fortunate to be given such a great opportunity to learn. From the field trips to the guest lectures, there was never a dull moment around the camp. Even in our down time we used the skills we had learned from experimental archaeology and our guests to do assorted crafts. The research the group of students accomplished was also inspiring, and attention grabbing. Post-field school I am more interested in Archaeology than ever. I plan to use my Non-Profit Leadership and Management degree at Arizona State University to get myself and others involved in the Archaeology field.”..Joe Hall
This Pueblo erected with the energy of field school students but with the same technology that the Mogollon used.
Field school students had some unstructured time in the evenings. But most worked on their field reports, blogs and burning designs
Archaeozoology – The study of animal remains, usually bones, from the past. Alexandra Norwood (Pasadena, CA) enjoys the final product.
Field Supervisor Will Russell (ASU) fields questions from Bill Jamison, a Duck Creek resident for the past forty years. Jamison mentioned about 10 years ago, a burial fell into the creek.
The next morning at the Dinwiddie Dig a 40 year resident of the Duck Creek Community dropped by to visit the site and Will Russell was able to share with Bill Jamison the Field School’s focus and share with him some of what had been found. Jamison pointed out for a decade a burial eroded out of the river bank
and eventually was washed away. He did say a friend now living in San Diego had collected enough sherds to completely restore three pots and Russell asked him if photos were available or if they could be sent Another lead to another piece of the puzzle.
VICTORIA BOWLER shows ALEXANDAR BALLESTEROS how to throw ATLATL darts. Bowler works as an archaeologist and interpreter at Fort Bowie and Chiricahua National Monument and feels this field school will allow her to put these new ideas into practice.
Mixture of water and mud
Flintknapper Allan Denoyear made these two points at the field school for his orientation discussion.
Allan Denoyer mixes adobe mud for the walls of the pueblo.
JODI REEVES-FLORES (ASU) adds a layer of mud to the walls of the adobe Pueblo.
Digital Antiquity is a nonprofit grassroots effort to get all Archaeological data archived by creating a multi-institutional, non-profit organization dedicated to overseeing the use, development, and maintenance of the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR), an international repository for the digital records of archaeological investigations, organizations, projects, and research.
Students listen to a digital workshop produced by ASU’s Jodi Reeves-Flores on Digital Antiquity’s tDAR, an archaeological online data base where data input will be preserved, and reinterpreted as a piece of the whole.
One of Digital Antiquity’s key objectives is to foster the use of tDAR and ensure its financial, technical, and professional sustainability. Use of tDAR has the potential to transform archaeological research by providing direct access to digital data from current and historic investigations along with powerful tools to analyze and reuse it.
Digital Antiquity was created through the collaboration of archaeologists, library scientists, and administrators from the Archaeology Data Service, the University of Arkansas, Arizona State University, the Pennsylvania State University, the SRI Foundation, and Washington State University.
By enhancing preservation of and access to digital archaeological records, the mission of Digital Antiquity to permit researchers to more effectively create and communicate knowledge of the long-term human past; enhance the management, interpretation, and preservation of archaeological resources; and provide for the long-term preservation of irreplaceable records
Using Decorrelation Stretch to Enhance Rock Art Images
By Jon Harman, Ph.D. (dstretch@prodigy.net) Web site: http://www.DStretch.com
Decorrelation stretch, an image enhancement technique first used in remote sensing, can be usefully applied to rock art. In pictograph images from Baja California, Utah and Arizona I demonstrate its ability to bring out elements nearly invisible to the eye and to improve visualization of difficult sites. A decorrelation stretch plugin to the imaging program ImageJ is available from the author, free for personal use. It’s free but suggested contribution is $50. You can make a contribution via PayPal. My account is JonHarman “at” prodigy.net, if you want to send a check you will find his address on the email he sends back.
Lizard shaped pictograph in a cave near Mulege BAJA Sur…. This rock art is made with paints perhaps from crushed rock with iron.
Decorrelation stretch was developed at JPL and it has been used in remote sensing to enhance multispectral images. NASA used it to enhance Mars Rover images. DStretch has become a very useful tool for archaeologists
Filtered photograph of Lizard now only shows a hand print which was made by an artist filling his mouth with paint and blowing it through a reed toward his hand on the rock.
involved in the study and documentation of rock art. Its enhancement techniques can bring out very faint pictographs almost invisible to the eye. Subtle differences in hue are enhanced to puzzle out faint elements. Use of DStretch is simple as just hitting a button, but it also contains sophisticated tools for the manipulation of false color images. Because the enhancement works by increasing differences in hue, the technique gives better results for pictographs than petroglyphs.
The technique applies a Karhunen-Loeve transform to the colors of the image. This diagonalizes the covariance (or optionally the correlation) matrix of the colors. Next the contrast for each color is stretched to equalize the color variances. At this point the colors are uncorrelated and fill the colorspace. Finally the inverse transform is used to map the colors back to an approximation of the original. DStretch supports several different colorspaces, the image is converted from RGB to the colorspace, the calculation and transformation is performed, and then the colors are converted back to RGB before writing into a digital image.
Cave in Northern Baja along Highway One
The most common color found in pictographs is red, followed by black, then white, then rarely other hues. Often the rock shelter or cave wall is reddish or blackened. There are common types in the color distributions of pictograph images and this causes a consistency in the decorrelation stretch enhancements. DStretch works well to enhance red pigment but suppresses white and blacks. By bringing out the red painting and suppressing the background shades it can help clarify image composition.
DStretch is a plugin to ImageJ which is a full-featured imaging program. It is written in Java and can run on PC’s, Mac’s and Linux computers. When the button is pressed the plugin calculates the covariance matrix of the image colors (within the chosen colorspace) and then determines the transformation. Different decorrelation results are possible by selecting different parts of the image.
Different colorspaces give different results. DStretch has implemented the algorithm in the standard RGB and LAB colorspaces and also in the colorspaces: YDS, YBR, YBK, LDS, LRE. These colorspaces are modifications of the YUV or LAB colorspaces that give good decorrelation stretch results on images of rock art. The YDS and LDS colorspaces are good for general enhancements and can bring out faint yellow pigments. YBR and espeically LRE enhance reds. YBK can help with black and blue pigments and also enhances yellows well. The user can design their own colorspaces using the YXX and LXX buttons. The enhanced image is false color, the color scan be radically different from the original. In Expert Mode DStretc has the ability to shift the hues in the enhanced image to increase contrast.
CLICK HERE FOR SLIDE SHOW OF ROCK ART USING FALSE COLOR TO PRODUCE ADDITIONAL DETAIL…
http://pkweis.photoshelter.com/gallery/ROCK-ART-FILTERS/G0000oUHzJSUXcUI
Each image enhances differently, depending on its own unique distribution of colors. Another useful enhancement technique, not related to decorrelation stretch, is the manipulation of the hue and saturation of the image. DStretch (in expert mode) can do hue histogram equalization and saturation stretching. DStretch also contains a tool that allows a region of the enhanced image to be isolated by hue and then added back to the original image. This can be used to isolate an enhanced element then return it to the original image.
http://pkweis.photoshelter.com/gallery/ROCK-ART-FILTERS/G0000oUHzJSUXcUI
3D Scanning: Cultural Heritage and the Arts
Using 3D or “White Light” Scanners can uncover details from the past and today there is no better way to record a complex object than with a high resolution 3D white light scanner. The fringe projection method used in 3D white light scanning make non-contact digitization of art and sculpture and historical artifacts possible. Direct comparisons can be made of dimension and shape. Structured light Scanning allows revisitation of any object over time, creation of databases, redrawings of cross sections and 3D volume calculations. Today 3D scan data has a growing value in archaeology, paleontology and cultural heritage, collection of 3D scan data provides a digital archival record allowing access in remote locations, and the ability to produce replicas useful for exhibits.
One strategy under consideration at the Preservation Field School is the possibility of being able to actually see the “fingerprints” of the potter in ceramics. If that study moves forward there is a hope that not only will archaeologists know where the “Ancient Ones” went, they may be able to follow the fingerprints of a single women walking across an prehistoric landscape to her final resting place.
Kristin Safi in this month’s Kiva Journal outlines his “least cost” migration routes from the San Juan region to the Rio Grande Pueblo area. In this study 1200 possible routes are identified but many overlap and others had more costly terrain boiling the study down to 30 routes but when known archaeological sites were factored in, five routes were identified as the probable exodus path taken by the Kayenta Anasazi as they left the Northeast Arizona. Three of the routes probably were used by the later migrations because closer Pueblos were filled up earlier by early migrations. As for the question, “Where did the Ancient Ones go!” Not only do we know where the Kayenta went, we know why. FEAR!
<a href=” SPANISH TRANSLATIONS:">
THE GREAT FORT APACHE HERITAGE CELEBRATION or NDEE LA ADE’/ GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE WHOSE YOUTH ARE KEEPING THEIR TRADITIONS ALIVE !
ROCK CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CROWN DANCERS WAIT A TURN IN THE DANCE ….
DANCERS JOIN IN THE GRAND PROCESSIONAL
The White Mountain Apache celebrates the Tribe’s Youth, it’s language and traditions through song and dance each year at the Great Fort Apache Heritage Celebration. It is a time of competition, Crown Dancers turn out to out dance other Mountain Spirit groups. Singers show up to entertain and to flaunt the Apache Spirit and Apache life ways. Participants may come from different districts, but they are all Apache. This Celebration each years serves as a reunion for former students of the Theodore Roosevelt BIA School, as well as, Apache from all directions. Holding onto the Apache customs, once taught from birth like language now competes with English and TV, and the Heritage Celebration highlight their traditions and celebrates the Apache Language. There is a flashing of colors as all participants of the Grand Processional join together on the dance floor. Earlier Apache children took a seven mile walk called the Seven Miles for Seven Generation Walk. “Youth keeping the future alive with traditions and culture” is the theme of the day meanwhile that night at the school they held a oldies dance for High School Alums that featured an Elvis look-a-like dance. The War Drum rang out from Fort Apache in the Arizona’s White Mountains as dancers took to the war path at the bidding of President Obama’s White House. The White Mountain Apache Tribe, (WMAT) accepted Obama’s Gen I initiative, the challenge is a Indigenous Youth Project designed to support cultural strategies to improve the college-and-career readiness of Native children or to preserve a culture”s traditions.
A young WMA, Jared Ivins-Massey took that challenge, and brought the WAR dance to the iconic Fort this year. During the traditional building of furious resolve Warriors danced and thrust with traditional spears, others drew their bows with arrow, still another flaunted a hunting rifle, another still drew his large butcher knife leaving no doubt he stood ready to use it. These fierce warriors ranged from retirement to elementary school age and all welcomed the President’s initiative to focus on the lives of Native American youth and to restore the cultural rituals lost to Indian community in the early 1900s when the United States government banned Native American ceremonial dances. President Obama announced the Generation Indigenous (Gen-I) Initiative. Through this initiative Native youth are encouraged to conduct a positive event in their community that focuses on health and wellness, cultural preservation, and youth well being. Massey’s Gen-I event focused on the cultural preservation of the Apache language and traditions. For 75 years, many Native American ceremonial dances ceased and those that did manage to continue did so in secrecy. In 1978, when the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed, many ceremonies and healing rituals were re-established amongst the Tribes. Some think these rituals have lost meaning for the younger Indian generation and, they will never again be quite the same, but others are working to restore the rituals of the past. 
“The Great Fort Apache Heritage Celebration today provides an important opportunity for the White Mountain Apache community to come together to share the beauty and vitality of their Ndee heritage, and to shape a uniquely Apache present and future” writes Karl A. Hoerig, Ph.D. Director of Nohwike’ Bagowa Museum and Apache Cultural Center. Fort Apache for more than a century served as a military post and then as a boarding school for the White Mountain Apache Tribe. “The Theodore Roosevelt School National Historic Landmark campus was dedicated to the control of Apache people and the destruction of much of their heritage. Starting with the establishment of the first Apache Cultural Center at Fort Apache in 1969, and continuing with ever-expanding initiatives to re-establish the community’s sovereignty over the site–including this annual event–Fort Apache is becoming first and foremost an Apache place: a place for education, for the perpetuation of heritage, for economic development, for the community.”
WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHE RETURN TO THE WARPATH…
“This celebration is now truly by, for and of the White Mountain Apache Tribes citizenry” writes Jo
hn Welch, who produced the original 2001 event which has grown for the past 16 years into the event that now hosts Apache dance and singing each May when the tribe celebrates its annual gathering of the Apache People which now has grown into an “authentic expression of the communities interests and value.”
“Keeping the rituals of our ancestors alive”, say members of the Indian Club at Alchesay High School in Whiteriver. Their members who dance in the White Mountain Apache crown dance groups, find their roles “as Mountain Spirits who banish evil and bring good fortune”, culturally important. Some dancers come from Christian homes, go to church, and learn those traditions, and do not learn the Apache traditions. This is our heritage, and we have to keep it going.” teaches Rosalind Armstrong-Garcia, a group sponsor who believes the club fills a gap”. During this year’s Apache Heritage Celebration three school dance performed in the Gaan dance off which featured seven Apache Crown Dancers groups who delighted the crowd and competed among all the community dance groups.
Manuel Cooley delights the crowd singing in Apache about the antics of a naughty little boy.
Second District Iola James
The Apache religion has been a fundamental part of the Apache lifestyle. Their worship for their God, Ussen, the Giver of Life and the Gaan or Mountain Spirits, who are represented in religious rites such as healing and puberty ceremonies. While the Crown Dancers who dress elaborately to impersonate the Mountain Spirits, wearing kilts, black masks, tall wooden-slat headdresses, and body paint and carrying wood swords have no supernatural powers they serve as a conduit for the Apache spinning their words into the heavens and assuring their prayers reach their God. “The mountain spirits have taught the Apaches to perform the Apache Crown Dance as a means of curing. The crown headdress is be-decked with eagle feathers; the teacher that flew the highest in the Heavens. The signs of lightning are sacred symbols of the Apaches which are placed on the bodies of the Apache Crown Dancers who are instructed by the mysterious mountain spirits to perform healing rituals for the Apaches. The crown dance is authentically performed today,” reported long-time Apache Tribal Chairman Ronnie Lupe in the Fort Apache Scout newspaper. 
MOUNTAIN SPIRIT DANCERS COMPETITION
FOOD FROLICS DELIGHTED THE CROWD OF ALL AGES….
Apache Royalty prepares to spread fruit out around on the dance floor for one of four fruit free-for-all-with all the thrills and excitement of an Easter egg hunt.
Kaiden and Hayle DeClay torment their father, Chico, a Crown Dancer from the East Port Dance Group. Chico makes of point of 
speaking Apache to his girls and they have learned to understand the language. Like many members of the White Mountain Apache People Chico and his wife Jenane believe their language and traditions is the key to holding onto the important rituals that make up the Apache traditions and ancient lifeways. In spite of the Batman, Superman and Star Wars t-shirts scattered throughout the crowd when the Cooley Mountain Singers Drum group begin beating out their songs. Apache youth began to sway to the Apache songs and the masked men they adore are Crown Dancers, whose color and sounds of bells bring them onto the dance floor as they try to copy their elders. White Mountain Apache Miss Indian Arizona Shasta Dazen tells the crowd “it’s a great day to experience
Linton Ethelbah Sr and Shannon
TANNER HENRY or “BEAR”
all the love that comes from our traditions and congratulations to everyone here for clinging to your culture.” Eleven month old Shannon Hope squirms from her daddy’s lap and begins dancing with the drum. Barely able to walk but she wants to dance. Her father Linton Ethelbah Sr. explains he speaks Apache to the toddler whenever he can and has noticed she appears to understand Apache and looks confused when his wife or other six kids speak English to her. Traditions are important to Linton whose medicine man grandfather, Thomas and his wife, Cecilia taught him the importance of the Apache way of life, I want her to understand Apache. His middle son is a graduate from McNary elementary school and just graduated from the Sherman B.I.A. Indian School in California. “He wanted to go elsewhere and learn to be independent. There’s nothing here right now, Ethelbah says, jobs are hard to find.” “Drugs and alcohol are problems here and in California he can learn to make a living…there are more opportunities there.”
ROCK CREEK CROWN DANCERS BLESS THE YOUTH KEEPING ALIVE THE TRADITIONS FOR THE FUTURE GENERATION
Mylyle Ethelbah 3rd place
“WHEN THEY GET THE CALLING…” Siting mesmerized the crowd just allows the music and dance take over. The Rock Creek Dancers, The Cooley Mountain Dancers, Diamond Creek Dancers were part of the dance off.
RAPTURED BY THE MUSIC AND THE DRUMS EVERYONE WAS ENJOYING THE DANCE… 
” APACHE KIDS ASK ME-ARE YOU AN INDIAN “YES I SAY AND SO ARE YOU…”
Monty Stover Sr. comes to the Heritage Celebration every year because he wants Apache to know what “their ancestors looked like”.
Monty Stover Sr. comes to the Heritage Celebration every year because he wants the White Mountain Apache new generation to know what their ancestors looked like. “Apache kids come up to me and ask if I’m an Indian. I am,” I say and “so are you”. No we’re not! they say to me! ” Their parents speak English too much,” Stover says. “When a young Apache child comes up to me and speaks Apache to me! That’s beautiful”, he said. “Those parents are teaching that child our traditions. So each year we have this Celebration so people can see where we came from and how our ancestors lived.” “We dance and sing, enjoy the prayers” says Kicker Z. “To keep our traditions strong to show our children who they are…” “When the drums begin the kids try to dance like the Crown Dancers says Jenane DeClay who is part Sioux and married to an Apache Crown Dancer. “They reach a certain age and get the calling, then they try to copy their father.”
Today there are many different nations of Apache people, the present-day Apache people include the Jicarilla, Mescalero, Chiricahua, Western Apache, Lipan-Apache, and Plains-Apache. The White Mountain Apache Tribe now consists of approximately 15,000 members. Many live on Tribal lands, but others live and work all over the country and the world. The majority of the population lives in and around Whiteriver, the seat of Tribal government. In 2000 U.S. census about 57,000 people identified themselves as Apache only; another 40,000 people reported being part Apache. Many Apache live on reservations in Arizona and New Mexico. The complexity in the cultural division of Apache tribes can be can be seen by breaking down just one of these subgroups, the Western-Apache, the Apache people residing in east central Arizona are known as Western Apache. Most of these Native Americans live within reservations called the White Mountain, Fort Apache, San Carlos, Yavapai, Tonto, and Fort McDowell Mohave reservations. 
“The War Dance Generation Indigenous Event is focused on Cultural Preservation, to protect my Apache language and to see my culture continue. This event brings comfort knowing that this dance will continue for generations to come. Apache Warriors will dance into the next Seven Generations.”
MAKANALANI PIKE
In the old days, the two day War Dance was divided into discrete parts and began shortly after dark. In the first phase, called “going to war” the warriors of each clan were called to dance and demonstrate how they will fight the enemy. Those with spears would pretend to lance; those with bows would draw them back to show how far they can draw; those with shields used them also. The second phase was termed “cowhide, picked up” and involved the singing of chants that described the stealing of enemy property. In the third phase labelled “invite by touching” women of all ages were encouraged to choose a male partner and engage in social dancing. The final phase was performed at dawn the following day. Twelve of the bravest and most experienced warriors stood in a line and, one after the other, sang a song about personal success in war. After the last song, the warriors staged mock attacks on several camps, showing how they intended to surprise and defeat the enemy. This ended the war dance, and shortly later the war party made ready to depart writes Glenville Goodwin in his notes edited into the book, “Western Apache Raiding and Warfare” by Keith Basso. 
THIS YEAR’S SPECIAL WARPATH EVENT was a special White House Initiative to empower Native American Youth. The white house is launching Generation Indigenous or (Gen I), a Native youth initiative focused on removing the barriers that stand between Native youth and their opportunity to succeed. Jared Ivins-Massey, an ASU law student who produced a video of his community project showing the Heritage Celebration, the community initiative to restore past practices and traditions. Massey and others will share their stories online using #GenI …
13 year old Vernon Anderson says he loved the “War Dance” he got pretty excited thinking about things back in the day–“it was pretty cool” he said.
The Fort Apache Cultural Center called Nohwike’ Bágowa hosts exhibits, exhibitions, regularly scheduled Apache arts demonstrations. The museum houses the Tribe’s archival collection, including manuscripts, publications, and a large collection of historic photographs.
Fort Apache is an icon of the Apache Wars and the American West and is now a monument to celebrate Apache Heritage. Fort Apache Historic Park
sits on the confluence of the north and east forks of the White River in the White Mountains, homeland of the White Mountain Apache people. The presence of the U.S. Cavalry was initially to help the Apache live peacefully on their lands and to stifle conflict among the Apache clans and then arriving white settlers. Today Fort Apache recalls both a period of conflict and a time of cooperation between the U.S. Cavalry and several tribes from the Western Apache. The U.S. military left in 1922 after many years of declining use. The Apache Scouts that had been employed by General Crook were transferred to Fort Huachuca on the U.S,-Mexican Border, where they continued to serve. The last three Scouts retired in 1947. The Fort was transferred to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to house the Theodore Roosevelt Indian Boarding School. First intended to serve Diné (Navajo) children, by the 1930s, a majority of students at the school were Apache. Theodore Roosevelt School continues today on the very spot to serve as a middle school with a school board selected by the Tribal Council. From the founding of Fort Apache in 1870 until the capture of Geronimo in 1886, this fort was involved in the Indian Wars and was first called Camp Ord, in honor of General O.C. Ord, Commander of Arizona when it was built in the spring; however, just a few months later, the name was changed to Camp Mogollon in August, then Camp Thomas in September. The post was finally designated as Camp Apache on February 2, 1871 as a token of friendship to the Indians, the fort soldiers would spend many years fighting and trying to exterminate. The fort’s initial purpose was to guard the nearby White Mountain Reservation. Situated at the end of a military road on the White Mountain Reservation, which adjoined the San Carlos Reservation, the fort guarded the White Mountain Indian Agency, while Fort Thomas watched over the San Carlos Agency. However, both reservations became the focus of Apache unrest, especially after troops moved the Chiricahua Apache in 1876 from Fort Bowie to the White Mountain Reservation. On April 5, 1879, Camp Apache was renamed Fort Apache.
BUILT IN 1871, GENERAL CROOKS CABIN HOUSES A GLIMPSE OF THE MILITARY LIFESTYLE IN ARIZONA
Today, twenty-seven historic buildings make up the 288 acre National Register Historic District. Following maps available at the Museum, visitors can explore the district at their own pace. Interpretive signs located throughout the district explain the construction and use of the historic buildings and
spaces, and allow visitors to immerse themselves in the history of what many consider the best surviving example of an Apache Wars-era military post. The Fort Apache Cemetery is 1/4 mile east of the main fort grounds and is accessible
The grave of an Apache Scout, one of many who served with the U.S. Cavalry during the Indian Wars .
by walking trail or road. Visitors interested in more adventure can hike the Historic Park ’s recreational trails, including a 1.4 mile loop through the East Fork canyon that passes the site of a historic Apache Scout camp. General Crook’s Cabin, built in 1871 and the oldest structure left on the fort today provides visitors with maps, historic photographs and murals allowing an historic overview of the fort and its impact on the Apache people. One room offers a glimpse into the lifestyle of army officers and their families living on a remote outpost in the wilds of the western frontier. The Fort Apache post office occupies the adobe adjutant’s building. The stone officers’ quarters, are today the residences of teachers and other Bureau of Indian Affairs employees. The sutler’s store and commissary building, cavalry barns, and guard house have not been significantly altered. One of the original four barracks, an adobe building in bad disrepair, houses the farm shop for the school. The parade ground provides a recreational area. The cemetery no longer contains dead soldiers, but does contain the bodies of Indian scouts. The fort is located five miles south of Whiteriver, Az, from Globe, take US 60 northeast 66 miles; turn east on State 73 and drive about 27 miles to Fort Apache.
FORT APACHE BIA INDIAN SCHOOL WOMEN DORMS
The White Mountain Apache Tribe is located in the east central region of Arizona, 194 miles northeast of Phoenix. This Tribe manages the popular Sunrise Park Ski Resort, Fort Apache Timber Company and the popular Hondah Casino near Show Low.
Located in the Fort Apache Historic Park, Nohwike’ Bágowa (House of Our Footprints) is the place to experience Apache history and culture.
Nohwike’ Bágowa, the White Mountain Apache Cultural Center and Museum, is housed in a modern facility constructed to reflect a gowa, the Apache traditional holy home, the cultural center and museum is committed to the celebration and perpetuation of the Apache heritage. Nohwike’ Bágowa hosts long term exhibits, temporary exhibitions, regularly scheduled Apache arts demonstrations, and other special events. The museum also houses the Tribe’s growing archival collection, including manuscripts, publications, and a large collection of historic photographs. The museum shop offers a wide selection of the best Apache basketry, beadwork, and other arts, in addition to books, music, and Fort Apache and Tribal mementos.
PREHISTORIC KINISHBA RUIN
The death of Nochaydelklinne,”The Dreamer” at Cibecue Creek and the Apache attack on Fort Apache two days later is often considered the final battle between the Apache and the U.S. Cavalry at the fort. The Apache repeatedly attacked the fort at long range, firing vollleys and scoring. The U.S. cavalry and native allies fought back but the Apache remained at the end of their rifle range during the entire fight. Two days later, reinforcements arrived but by this time the Apaches had already retreated into hiding. Only three American soldiers were wounded and Apache casualties are unknown. The two separate engagements at Cibecue Creek and Fort Apache helped ignite another Apache war that would end with the surrender of Geronimo in 1886. But the last Apache attack on the U.S. at Fort Apache was led by Apache Lawyers who took the United States all the way to the Supreme Court and won $12 million. In 2003 the Supreme Court of the United States held in a 5-4 decision that when the federal government used land or property held in trust for an Indian tribe, it had the duty to maintain that land or property and was liable for any damages for a breach of that duty.
CAVALRY BARRACKS
The case involved Fort Apache, the collection of buildings on the reservation which were transferred to the tribe by the U.S. Congress in 1960. Although the tribe owned the Fort Apache buildings, they were held in trust and used exclusively by the federal government for an Indian school. This was a continuation of the building’s use from when the federal government retained title. As more schools were built at other Indian reservations, attendance dropped at the Fort Apache school. The tribe began to plan for use of the buildings and sought designation as a historic site. When the federal government wanted to turn the property over to the tribe for use, the tribe found that the property had deteriorated and sued for damages to the property. The Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court, holding that the federal government used the property it held in trust, and that it therefore had a duty to maintain the property. The loss led the government to settle with the tribe for $12 million. The buildings are managed by the Fort Apache Heritage Foundation and the case, helps to define the Indian Trust Doctrine. The case has been widely discussed in legal literature and books.
Jared Ivins-Massey gives Kicker-Z first place in War Dance
President Obama launched the Gen-I Initiative at the White House Tribal Nations Conference to ensure all young Native people can reach their full potential. The Gen-I Initiative calls for Native Youth Community Projects, like the first White House Tribal Youth Gathering this summer that will engage hundreds of Native youth in a day-long convention. The Native Youth Report acknowledges past failures of federal policy, explores the challenges facing Native children, and creates a path forward. 
The Gen-I Native Youth Challenge is part of the process of establishing the National Native Youth Network. Native youth are invited to take part in the Gen-I Challenge. This call to action creates a network of people interested in the issues facing Native youth and creating an information platform about opportunities and highlight their voices and positive contributions. Jared Ivins-Massey, is an enrolled member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona. He was born and raised on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Northeastern Arizona. Massey is one of seventeen Native Youth selected to create a steering committee for the upcoming White House Tribal Youth Gathering this summer that will engage hundreds of Native youth in a day-long convention. Jared is the son of Leo and Rolinda Massey of Fort Apache, Arizona and hails from the community of Seven Mile and Cibecue, Arizona. Jared is a proud graduate of Alchesay High School where he was elected student body president and elected the White Mountain Apache Youth Council Male Co-President. Currently Jared is a double major studying political science and justice studies. Jared currently resides at the Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus in Chandler, Arizona. Jared states, “With no Vision youth cannot prosper but with the guidance of our elders, a Vision is in our sight.” Jared is a traditional dancer and hopes to one day return to the White Mountain Apache Reservation and serve as a tribal attorney. I’m excited to share my Gen-I Native Youth Challenge! he shares on Facebook. My Generation Indigenous (Gen-I) Challenge Event focuses on Cultural Preservation. “In conjunction with the 2015 Fort Apache Heritage Celebration & Festivities, my family and I will be holding the “Jared Ivins-Massey Apache War Dance Special” This dance was done in times of victory and through the event I hope Apache youth will learn this powerful dance. In addition, I ask that all participants submit a half page essay on “What it means to be an Apache Warrior.” The reason for my Generation Indigenous (Gen-I) Event, is to ensure that my Apache language and culture continues. This event brings comfort knowing that this dance will continue for generations to come. These Apache Warriors will dance into the next Seven Generations. I see you Apache Youth! he writes. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in Sacramento, CA. elected White Mountain Apache tribal member Jared Massey National NCAI Youth Commission Co-President. During his term Massey will work closely with tribal leaders in Indian country on BIA funding, healthcare, Indian Health Services, Indian Reservation Roads funding and gaming. NCAI is a national organization that advocates, lobbies and addresses issues throughout Indian country. “We are extremely proud of Jared. He is an excellent role model and ambassador of the White Mountain Apache Tribe. The National Congress of American Indians is a great organization that works for the betterment and well-being of Indian people. NCAI will be a great experience for Jared to further develop his leadership skills and solidify his future’s foundation with education, culture and experience,” stated Harrisen DeClay, WMAT Education Director.
Jerad Massey hopes by providing insight and assistance to White House staff in planning the 2015 Tribal Youth Summit, he hopes challenges that youth face today on reservations will be addressed. Coming from the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, Massey has seen first-hand the struggles of reservation life and tribal youth. “I personally have experienced so many social issues that plague our youth and challenge our youth from breaking so many cycles with suicide, drugs, alcohol, poverty, sexual abuse and domestic violence. I am excited to work with the White House, because this personal testimony and experience is not just part of my past and my roots as a young Apache man, but they are the real-life and day-to-day things that face our youth. We need to use these issues to deliver messages to our youth empowering them to overcome these social issues and that we will survive to create an even better and more promising futures for our children.”
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HONEY BEE PIT HOUSE CONSTRUCTION MAPS OUT THE HOHOKAM’S LIFE WAYS AT STEAM PUMP RANCH IN ORO VALLEY EXPANDING THE PREHISTORIC RECORD !
Allen Denoyers is building a Hohokam village on Tucson’s northwest side. Visitors to Oro Valley’s historic
Steam Pump Ranch can crawl between two wood uprights and find themselves transported back to 900 AD. 
The southwest archaeologist has propelled his career by taking prehistoric technology into his hands and by learning from the past and teaching his students what life was like a thousand years ago. Denoyers passion for the past has taken many different forms, since junior high school, the self-taught flintknapper has created knifes, axes, spears, atlatls and now prehistoric pit houses. Archaeology Southwest, a local archaeology research firm, where Denoyer works, has long been responsible for expanding the prehistoric record by their survey of endangered sites and filling in the holes of existing knowledge about the folks who once lived here in the Sonoran Desert. So when Denoyer built his first pilot pit house, he was working from the knowledge gained from the past century of southwest archaeology and in partnership with the Town of Oro Valley and the Oro Valley Historical Society. In truth, most of what is known about the Hohokam pit house are the holes in the ground left behind by the wood uprights stuck in the ground centuries ago. The roofing, side and interior of these homes today are modeled on historic homes of the Hohokam descendents that today, are known as the Tohono O’odham and Pima people, of Southern Arizona.
When Hurricane Norbert dropped four inches of rain on Oro Valley last September, swelling washes to ten feet deep in places and requiring local fire and police to rescue motorists from swollen washes and flooded
roadways. Loads of mud sloughed off Denoyers pit house completely filling it with water. That’s when the learning began for Archaeology Southwest who figured 40-50 percent of the mud was lost. Mud from the upper portions of the walls washed away or slumped in. The roof actually stayed relatively intact, with losses mostly confined to the edges. “But we don’t see this as a tragedy—in fact, we’re
Smoothing the mud produces a sheen that sheds the rain
re-mudding they laid thatch mats over the new openings allowing air to circulate. Perhaps we need more thatching or interior support and possibly a different mixture of water and mud, to better combat the elements. Getting the moisture content of the earth just right is a real art, “I love the sound of the mud”, says Denoyer as he applies a rock to the wet surface smoothing it and creating a slick surface. “Floating the mud gives it a sheen and when the rain hits-it just rolls off.” “It really doesn’t take all that much work”, he says of pit house construction, “five or six people working together could finish in a couple of days”. “I love digging, screening earth, being out here all day. I’m so lucky so many people hate their work. At the end of the day, you can step back and appreciate what you accomplished.”
Archaeology Southwest has taken the next step to learn from the past, under the tutelage of Denoyer, the
research firm is offering several ongoing workshops, where participants will learn the basics of pit house 
construction as archaeologists have learned from excavations. Denoyer will lead participants through the construction process, from excavation of the house pit to creating the superstructure, putting each student hands-on with traditional tools and materials. Through this work, Archaeology Southwest hopes to add detail to archaeological knowledge of how these structures were made by ancient people. Workshop sessions take place at Steam Pump Ranch in Oro Valley. Each session will last for three hours. Initial sessions will be dedicated to repairing rain-damages 
to the 2014 pit house. After that pit house is restored, participants will create small test pit houses that will enable us to compare how slightly different methods and materials respond to time and weather. Class Dates: Friday 3/6/15 from 9:00am-12:00pm – $40.00, Friday 3/13/15 from 9:00am-12:00pm, Friday 4/10/15 from 9:00am-12:00pm, Thursday 4/16/15 from 9:00am-12:00pm, Friday 4/24/15 from 9:00am-12:00pm -classes are for participants 18 years and older, there is a $40.00 charge.
ONE STUDENTS IMPRESSIONS ON THE HANDS-ON PIT HOUSE CLASS
Allen Denoyer explains the class to Terri and Dave Wallace while Joyce Holloway listens to the plan.
Terri Wallace re-enforces the pit house wall with Seep Willows as support.
Denoyer has based the pit houses his classes are building on homes found in Honey Bee Village, an Oro Valley
Hohokam site, the 32 acres excavated by Henry Wallace, in 1986, his study turned up more than 2000 features, including 100’s of pit houses, a large plaza and a small ball court which established Honeybee as the economic center of several villages situated along the Canada del Oro River. The ball court Wallace believes was based on the Mesoamerican ball game, played with a rubber ball batted around with paddles perhaps resembling those used today in ping pong. The ball game, Wallace believes, was an “integrative tool” to bring folks together and exchange goods creating a “large trade fair”, around 800 AD, in the village’s center plaza. The larger excavation of the Tortolita foothills was undertaken by Desert Archaeology because of the advancing bulldozers for the development of the 5000 acre Rancho Vistoso housing project that today has covered over or bull-dozed many other sites right off the face of the earth. Honeybee’s sister site the larger “Sleeping Snake”, where “not much is left” says Wallace of the site now covered by a golf course. So when Wallace got to Honey Bee, the
archaeologist trenched the village core and conducted a systemic shed collection, learning a lot about the residents of the 100’s
of homes characterized by large oblong holes in the ground encircled by holes left by the pole uprights supporting the pit house village. Wallace believes the life of a pit house was 15-20 years and believed Honey Bee which was a “great place of ak-chin farming” said Wallace of the wide flood plain along Big Wash.
It never supported more than a 100 people at any given time, saying the village’s population was “between 40-90 people at any given time” and that Honey Bee” was not alone but part of something larger”. Denoyer points out supplies were limited and not everyone could build a pit house whenever they wanted. “They wouldn’t pull out the plants”. which grew along side of the Canada del Oro River which provided weep willows, for the necessary wall and roof support, for the Hohokam pit house, instead “they would cut the plant and it would grow back the next year” and more homes could then be built. Carbon 14 dating has placed some of the wood found around 1050 AD, and Wallace feels the wood was carried a great distance, climbing into the Catalina Mountains and carrying it many miles home. There was a lot of competition for building supplies, Honey Bee was far from alone along the CDO, notably the Romero Ruin now protected in Catalina State Park and Rooney Ranch site was bulldozed, and now is named after a shopping center. There were fifty pit houses and the bulldozers had entire pots rolling down the hillside, along with burials from between 700AD to 1380AD. One pit house had an altar at one end, where a bighorn sheep’s lower jaw was found buried shows a large populations lived along along this stream and visited the high country to hunt and possibly worship. Henry Wallace believes the Catalina high lands brought spirituality to the Hohokam people, “so it was important to bring a piece into your home,” speaking of the large ridge poles carried from the mountain.
Today, archaeologist study a rich rock art site, surrounding the “easiest path to high altitude” up the Catalina Sutherland Ridge. In November 1949, a hunter’s foot broke through the earth’s crust and Ray Romo peered into the past. The broken ground revealed a Hohokam pot cupped over another larger pot, inside were 25 copper bells and a 100,000 beads, Emil Haury and Carol Gifford speculated that the Romo Cache was an offering to insure the welfare of a village. The beads weighed 3.5 pounds, some are made of steatite or talc. These are black. Some are of a ferruginous aphanitic matrix containing quartz grains. These are red. Some are of chryosolla or turquoise. These are green and blue. A dozen are made from seashells. The black beads make up 40 per cent, the red beads 58 per cent, turquoise beads about 2 per cent. Some have marks, showing they were worn at one time. The bells were all made in Jalisco, more than 1200 miles south in Mexico. Someone carried them here and carefully hide them in these rocks, below you would have seen Honey Bee, the larger Sleeping Snake Village and the Romero village and many more villages laced along the running Canada del Oro stream. Who left it, we can’t say nor do we know why ? Maybe it begged God for his blessing ! After the Aspen fire, lots of pottery showed up, along the pathway up to the Catalinas. Excavations turned up one bell at the Rooney Ranch site, one more bell was found at Honeybee village–whatever the message the Romo cache begged, “in 950 AD, the Tucson villages fragmented”, people were moving away from Honey Bee’s Plaza, “they were moving out”, says Wallace. “There was a drastic and sudden change in 1150.” “Perhaps warefare or environmental change and social divisions created by a hierarchy of people with power living over people,” speculates Wallace. “Not long after this, they are all gone…”
Henry Wallace shows a tour of the Honey Bee Preserve the ballcourt.
“It’s very sad” Wallace says, “that east ridge is where all the Hohokam houses were–that’s where all those new houses are now.” A coalition of groups recognizing the prehistoric value of the Honey Bee Village proposed a preservation effort about a decade ago. In 2006, Oro Valley and Pima County, through a land donation from Steve Solomon, owner of Canada Vistas Homes, the development company that purchased the land, together created the Honey Bee Village Preserve.
The new preserve was established to protect the large Hohokam Indian community that occupied the site between 700 AD and 1200 AD, according to archeologists. Honey Bee Village is located just north of the intersection of Rancho Vistoso Boulevard and Moore Road. Archeologists have identified the locations of hundreds of pit houses, a ball court, a walled compound and a central compound on the relatively undisturbed site where developers once intended to build the town center for Oro Valley. Preservation of the 13-acre village was possible with the $8 million donation of real estate placed into public trust. “On one hand, we have 13 acres of highly valuable real estate, and on the other hand we have an invaluable prehistoric resource that would be plowed over and lost forever,” said Steve Solomon, owner of Canada Vistas Homes, the development company that had originally purchased the land and donated it.
Wallace shows off a pit house site in the Honey Bee Preserve.
Today the 13-acre core of Honey Bee Village is now preserved for future generations. The preserve
Honey Bee Preserve Map
Neglected after the depression tall grass and trash became an issue
HONEY BEE VILLAGE PRESERVE TOUR CLICK HERE…
For South West archaeologist, the ubiquitous pit house, clouded the prehistoric picture of ancient man. The Hohokam is now known to be the primary prehistoric agriculturalist of the Sonoran Desert. This ancient man surrounded himself with Mother Earth to protect his family from his harsh environment, like the sun and rain, that fell from the sky or the cold that surrounded them. The pit house has roots in prehistoric times in the arctic, the desert, the mountains, the plains and in woodland areas over a large part of North America west of the Mississippi River. The earth-covered frame house changed slowly in architecture, no two pit houses were exactly alike but their features are typical of homes found in northeast Asia, across the Bering Strait, throughout North America and deep into South America. From the earliest dates, the pit house changed very little, it’s shape evolved from a square, to a rectangular, eventually taking an elliptical shape over the centuries. The Hohokam evolved their oblong pit homes with rounded ends, the front and back wall were parallel and sized approximately 6 meters wide x 3 meters depth.
Hohokam Pit House Drawing Copyright by Rob Ciaccio
Archaeologist find pit homes of the Plains cultures as far East as the U.S. southeast in Arkansas, there historical earth lodges of the plains Indian seem identical to the type used by the prehistoric man. Typically the pit house had four central roof supports in early homes, the supports increased later with a side entrance composed of a covered passage-way, inclined from the floor. The floor of well plastered caliche, was built on native soil. The fire pit was a deep basin in the interior with a thick coating of caliche, the rim being flush with the floor. Cross beams, spaced at irregular intervals, held a thatch of twigs and grass, which was covered with caliche. The dirt covering the roof extended down onto the walls, they were plastered and renewed as the need arose.
Many were burned, perhaps as part of a funeral rite ?
Archaeologist believe most villages were economically related through exchange systems, typified by the trading of shell bracelets and jewelry from the Sea of Cortez for cotton textiles from the Salt/Gila canal systems. A larger widespread trade network is suggested by the trade of shell from the Gulf of California, parrots and macaws from Mesoamerica and turquoise from various Arizona locations.
Villages were small with houses centered around plazas. During the Colonial Period AD 775-975 homes are arranged in house clusters or courtyard groups archaeologist Dave Wilcox finds two to four houses arranged with entrances facing a common courtyard and sites generally contain one or more house clusters. Many archaeologist see this as a time of expansion-the Sedentary Period 975-1150 AD saw continued growth of existing settlements and new villages sprang up along rivers and in the open desert. Irrigation canals expanded in the Salt Gila and houses increased in size. Public architecture like ball courts occur now, public architecture including platform mounds became more elaborate, some larger sites had one or more ball courts as well as platform mounds. After 1300 AD everything starts to diminish and withdraw – platform mounds begin to be encircled by adobe walls, the Casa Grande great house was built during the late classical period. Walled terraces or cerro de trencheras, were constructed on steep hillsides, in the Tucson Basin. Extensive agricultural farms are expanded in the desert regions and agave farms are expanded. Bill Doelle and Henry Wallace have argued the Tucson Basin emerged as a regional center during the Classic period, they suggest that cerro del trencheras were defensive and indicate warfare or the threat of warfare between the Tucson Basin and the Salt-Gila Complex (Phoenix). Archaeologist find an increase in site hierarchy along the Salt-Gila and the Tucson basin during the Colonial period. Ball courts were first constructed along the Canada del Oro and served to integrate a number of associated smaller villages within the Hohokam community. By AD 1000, the Hohokam were using all parts of the Tucson Basin, they built their villages along streams and rivers and hunted and gathered in the foothills and mountains.
BECOME A MEMBER OF ARCHAEOLOGY SOUTHWEST….CLICK HERE
Experience the ancient art of flintknapping. Join Allen Denoyer for his Hands-On Archaeology class, “How Did People Make and Use Stone Tools?”. In each of these beginner classes, you will use ancient techniques and replica tools to create a stone projectile point. You will also learn more about how people made and used such points, and that points were just one component of a complete hunting technology. The class is for individuals 18 years of age and older and lasts approximately 3 hours. This class will meet at Steam Pump Ranch at 10901 North Oracle Road, Oro Valley, AZ 85737. If you are interested in registering a group of three or more participants, please contact Kathleen Bader by phone at (520) 882-6946 x26 or by email to reserve space for your entire group. Class is Friday 3/20/15 from 9:00am-12:00pm – $40.00
“I love to making Clovis points”, says Allen Denoyer who often demonstrates prehistoric technologies at Steam Pump Ranch on Saturday mornings.”They are my favorite thing to make.”
PREHISTORY PHOTO COLLECTION OF PHOTOS CLICK HERE
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SELLS 75TH ALL INDIAN RODEO & FAIR, OLDEST IN THE UNITED STATES & BEST ENTERTAINMENT TICKET!
Yree Lepa
Celebrating the 75th year of the Tohono O’odham Nation Rodeo & Fair, the longest running All-Indian rodeo in the United States! The Rodeo & Fair is the biggest and most expansive event of the year. Bring the family out to enjoy the full experience there is sure to be something for everyone – rodeo competitions, traditional games, food, crafts, carnival rides, fun run, exhibits and performances. The U.S. longest-running American Indian rodeo has a Junior Rodeo which this year fielded 300 young ones, it has a powwow, carnival, parade, Wailia dances, and food/crafts at the Livestock Complex in Sells, 60 miles west of Tucson. 
This year’s schedule ran from January 31 through February 3, 2013 at the Eugene P. Tashquinth Sr. Livestock Complex in Sells, Arizona. Named after the long-time voice of Tribal Rodeo’s, the Chu Chui resident (1929-2006) Eugene Tashquinth spent his days bringing order to chaos, heading up most of the events at the livestock area, so when they built the new one, they named it after Eugene Tashquinth. Equally proud is the Tohono O’odham Hedricks family whose matriarch Silas’s name blesses the Rodeo pavilion where he excelled in the arena, his grandson Chad Hedrick put the first score (6.3) on the clock with his bareback ride. Sells is a place of tradition and for the ten thousand residents of the third largest Indian reservation in the United States the annual rodeo and fair is a time of gathering, folks begin gathering before noon and the festivities go way into the night with the Wailia ending around l a.m.. The Rodeo and Pow Wow bring in native American competitors from all over the South West, particularly from Arizona tribes, like the Navajo, Hopi, San Carlos Apache, White Mountain Apache Tribe and their Tohono cousins: the Pima and Maricopa Tribes. Every year, is an old-home-town visit, with folks coming together to visit, catch-up, see who big all the cousins have gotten and to get new pictures of the kids. 
The mid-way is a beacon to all who love carnivals, greasy food, fast rides, regge music from Bob Marley, and tee shirts featuring heavy music idols and black goth signs. Visitors pay $8 for a wristband allowing all day access, for those over 55 years-of-age, the senior charge is $2. The annual Toka Tournament brings together the Tohono O’odham “Dream Teams”, like “Sun-Running-Women” who battle it out on a football sized field fighting over a wooden puck laced with leather and flung up-field with long sticks pulled from the ribs of the saguaro cactus. The start is much like the game lacrosse-another Indian game, it begins almost like a rugby scrum–and then off down field, very little is out of bound. These women celebrate this age old tradition all afternoon long with teams chasing each other up and down the playing field, the ebb and flow, the eventual goal and high-fives all around, losers too. The Pow Wow begins with the traditional Gourd Dance and breaks down into male, female, fancy, Plains categories featuring the finest in Pow Wow and Drum traditions. Just off the mid-way, the crowd not to photograph are the Yaqui Deer dancers nor can you record them with smartphones. The Yaqui Band features a combination of home-made instruments which accompany the dancers, one wears the head of a small deer atop the head, the main dancers each wore a mask to fill out the cast for their dance.
The Santa Rosa Shell Dancers
Earlier the Santa Rosa traditional dancers displayed their dance abilities, wearing their eye-catching shell-leg chaps, made from the shell carried from the Sea of Cortez by their ancestors who later traded the shell to Hohokam in the Salt-Gila River area for their cotton. The Tohono’s Hohokam ancestors valued the shell as a sign of rank, wealth, and much of it was fashioned into jewelry, like bracelets, necklaces, and leggings with shell leg tinklers for dancers The Tohono ancestors had a prehistoric salt trail across the vast waterless Sonoran Desert, across what is today’s US-MEXICO Border and into the blackened landscape of the Sierra de Pinacate lavafields, before crossing the enormous star sand dunes of the Grande Deserto for ten miles before reaching the Gulf of California where they harvested the precious salt and processed the shell, carrying home only what they needed to make jewelry to trade. Traditions have lasted thousands of years in the lands west of Tucson, they exist today and they will thrive tomorrow. The Tohono Tribe are gracious hosts and they welcome young and old, Indian or not as visitors to their Rodeo and Fair. It surprises me how few Tucsonans take advantage and visit the annual Tohono gathering, it surprises me more how few Tucson businesses sponsor, advertise or even acknowledge the tribe and its good work and its people of sterling, ageless character who have been our faithful neighbor for centuries.
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TUCSON’S 2012 DAY OF THE DEAD PROCESSION DRAWS RECORD FAMILY CROWD TO DEADLY EVENT
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