The two ruins of Küchaptüvela and Kisakobi mark the sites of Walpi
during the period of Spanish exploration and occupancy between 1540
and 1700. The former was the older. In all probability the latter had
a mission church and was inhabited at the time of the great rebellion
in 1680, having been founded about fifty years previously.
The former or more ancient[42] pueblo was situated on the first or
lowest terrace of East Mesa, below the present pueblo, on the northern
and western sides. The name Küchaptüvela signifies "Ash-hill terrace,"
and probably the old settlement, like the modern, was known as Walpi,
"Place-of-the-gap," referring to the gap or notch (_wala_) in the mesa
east of Hano.
Old Walpi is said to have been abandoned because it was in the shade
of the mesa, but doubtless the true cause of its removal was that the
site was too much exposed, commanded as it was by the towering mesa
above it, and easily approached on three sides. The Walpi which was
contemporary with Sikyatki was built in an exposed location, for at
that time the Hopi were comparatively secure from invaders. Later,
however, Apache, Ute, and Navaho began to raid their fields, and the
Spaniards came in their midst again and again, forcing them to work
like slaves. A more protected site was necessary, and late in the
seventeenth century the Walpians began to erect houses on the mesa,
which formed the nucleus of the present town. The standing walls of
Old Walpi are buried in the débris, but the plans of the rooms may
readily be traced. Comparatively speaking, it was a large, compact,
well-built pueblo, and, from the great piles of débris in the
neighborhood, would seem to have been occupied during several
generations.
The pottery found in the neighborhood is the fine, ancient Tusayan
ware, like that of Sikyatki and Shuñopovi. Extended excavations would
reveal, I am sure, many beautiful objects and shed considerable light
on the obscure history of Walpi and its early population.
After moving from Old Walpi it seems that the people first built
houses on the terrace above, or on the platform extending westward
from the western limits of the summit of East Mesa. The whole top of
that part of the mesa is covered with house walls, showing the former
existence of a large pueblo. Here, no doubt, if we can trust
tradition, the mission of Walpi was built, and I have found in the
débris fragments of pottery similar to that used in Mexico, and very
different from ancient or modern Pueblo ware. But even Kisakobi[43]
was not a safe site for the Walpians to choose for their village, so
after they destroyed the mission and killed the priest they moved up
to their present site and abandoned both of their former villages.
It is said that with this removal of the villagers there were found to
be no easy means of climbing the precipitous walls, and that the
stairway trails were made as late as the beginning of the present
century. In those early days there was a ladder near where the
stairway trail is now situated, and some of the older men of Walpi
have pointed out to me where this ladder formerly stood.
The present plan of Walpi shows marked differences from that made
twenty years ago, and several houses between the stairway trail and
the Wikwaliobi kiva, on the edge of the mesa, which have now fallen
into ruin, were inhabited when I first visited Walpi in 1890. The
buildings between the Snake kiva and the Nacab kiva are rapidly
becoming unsafe for habitation, and most of these rooms will soon be
deserted. As many Walpi families are building new houses on the plain,
it needs no prophet to predict that the desertion of the present site
of Walpi will progress rapidly in the next few years, and possibly by
the end of our generation the pueblo may be wholly deserted--one more
ruin added to the multitudes in the Southwest.
The site of Old Walpi, at Küchaptüvela, is the scene of an interesting
rite in the New-fire ceremony at Walpi, for not far from it is a
shrine dedicated to a supernatural being called Tüwapoñtumsi,
"Earth-altar-woman." This shrine, or house, as it is called, is about
230 feet from the ruin, among the neighboring bowlders, and consists
of four flat slabs set upright, forming an inclosure in which stands a
log of fossil wood.
The ceremonials at Old Walpi in the New-fire rites are described in my
account[44] of this observance, and from their nature I suspect that
the essential part of this episode is the deposit of offerings at this
shrine. The circuits about the old ruin are regarded as survivals of
the rites which took place in former times at Old Walpi. The ruin was
spoken of in the ceremony as the _Sipapüni_, the abode of the dead who
had become _katcinas_, to whom the prayers said in the circuits were
addressed.