Very vague ideas are current regarding the character of Hopi culture
prior to Tobar's visit to Tusayan in 1540, and with the exception of
the most meager information nothing concerning it has come down to us
from early historical references in the sixteenth century. It is
therefore interesting to record all possible information in regard to
these people prior to the period mentioned, and this must be done
mainly through archeology.
Although there are many Tusayan ruins which we have every reason to
believe are older than the time of Coronado, no archeologist has
gathered from them the evidences bearing on prehistoric Tusayan
culture which they will undoubtedly yield. Large and beautiful
collections of pottery ascribed to Tusayan ruins have shown the
excellent artistic taste of the ancient potters of this region,
indicating that in the ceramic art they were far in advance of their
descendants. But these collections have failed to teach, the lesson
they might have taught, from the fact that data concerning the objects
composing them are so indefinite. Very little care had been taken to
label these collections accurately or to collect any specimens but
those which were strikingly beautiful or commercially valuable. It was
therefore with the hope of giving a more precise and comprehensive
character to our knowledge of Tusayan antiquities that I wished to
excavate one of the ruins of this province which was undoubtedly
prehistoric. Conditions were favorable for success at the mounds
called by the Indians Sikyatki.[95] These ruins are situated near the
modern Tusayan pueblos of East Mesa, from which I could hire workmen,
and not far from Keam's Canyon, which could be made a base of
supplies. The existing legends bearing on these ruins, although
obscure, are sufficiently definite for all practical purposes.
I find no mention of Sikyatki in early historical documents, nor can
the name be even remotely identified with any which has been given to
a Tusayan pueblo. My knowledge of the mounds which mark the site of
this ancient village dates back to 1892, when I visited them with one
of the old men of Walpi, who then and there narrated the legend of its
destruction by the Walpians previously to the advent of the Spaniards.
I was at that time impressed by the extent of the mounds, and prepared
a rough sketch of the ground plan of the former houses, but from lack
of means was unable to conduct any systematic excavation of the ruin.
Comparatively nothing concerning the ruin of Sikyatki has been
published, although its existence had been known for several years
previously to my visit. In his brief account Mr Victor Mindeleff[96]
speaks of it as two prominent knolls, "about 400 yards apart," the
summits of which are covered with house walls. He also found portions
of walls on intervening hummocks, but gives no plan of the ruin. The
name, Sikyatki, is referred to the color of the sandstone of which the
walls were built. He found some of the rooms were constructed of small
stones, dressed by rubbing, and laid in mud. The largest chamber was
stated to be 9-1/2 by 4-1/2 feet, and it was considered that many of
the houses were "built in excavated places around the rocky summits of
the knolls."[97] Mr Mindeleff identified the former inhabitants with
the ancestors of the Kokop people, and mentioned the more important
details of their legend concerning the destruction of the village.
We can rely on the statement that Sikyatki was inhabited by the Kokop
or Firewood people of Tusayan, who were so named because they obtained
fire from wood by the use of drills. These people are represented
today at Walpi by Katci, whose totem is a picture of Masauwû, the God
of Fire. It is said that the home of the Firewood people before they
built Sikyatki was at Tebuñki, or Fire-house, a round ruin
northeastward from Keam's canyon. They were late arrivals in Tusayan,
coming at least after the Flute people, and probably before the Honani
or Badger people, who brought, I believe, the _katcina_ cult. Although
we can not definitely assert that this cultus was unknown at Sikyatki,
it is significant that in the ruins no ornamental vessel was found
with a figure of a _katcina_ mask, although these figures occur on
modern bowls. The original home of the Kokop people is not known, but
indefinite legends ascribe their origin to Rio Grande valley. They are
reputed to have had kindred in Antelope valley and at the Fire-house,
above alluded to, near Eighteen-mile spring.
The ruin of Fire-house, one of the pueblos where the Kokop people are
reputed to have lived before they built Sikyatki, is situated on the
periphery of Tusayan. It is built of massive stones and differs from
all other ruins in that province in that it is circular in form. The
round type of ruin is, however, to be seen in the two conical mounds
on the mesa above Sikyatki, which was connected in some way with the
inhabitants who formerly lived at its base.
The reason the Kokop people left Fire-house is not certain, but it is
said that they came in conflict with Bear clans who were entering the
province from the east. Certain it is that if the Kokop people once
inhabited Fire-house they must have been joined by other clans when
they lived at Sikyatki, for the mounds of this pueblo indicate a
village much larger than the round ruin on the brink of the mesa
northeast of Keam's canyon. The general ground plan of the ruin
indicates an inclosed court with surrounding tiers of houses,
suggesting the eastern type of pueblo architecture.
The traditional knowledge of the destruction of Sikyatki is very
limited among the present Hopi, but the best folklorists all claim
that it was destroyed by warriors from Walpi and possibly from Middle
Mesa. Awatobi seems not to have taken part in the tragedy, while Hano
and Sichomovi did not exist when the catastrophe took place.
The cause of the destruction of Sikyatki is not clearly known, and
probably was hardly commensurate with the result. Its proximity to
Walpi may have led to disputes over the boundaries of fields or the
ownership of the scanty water supply. The people who lived there were
intruders and belonged to clans not represented in Walpi, which in all
probability kept hostility alive. The early Tusayan peoples did not
readily assimilate, but quarreled with one another even when sorely
oppressed by common enemies.
There is current in Walpi a romantic story connected with the
overthrow of Sikyatki. It is said that a son of a prominent chief,
disguised as a _katcina_, offered a prayer-stick to a maiden, and as
she received it he cut her throat with a stone knife. He is said to
have escaped to the mesa top and to have made his way along its edge
to his own town, taunting his pursuers. It is also related that the
Walpians fell upon the village of Sikyatki to avenge this bloody deed,
but it is much more likely that there was ill feeling between the two
villages for other reasons, probably disputes about farm limits or the
control of the water supply, inflamed by other difficulties. The
inhabitants of the two pueblos came into Tusayan from different
directions, and as they may have spoken different languages and thus
have failed to understand each other, they may have been mutually
regarded as interlopers. Petty quarrels no doubt ripened into
altercations, which probably led to bloodshed. The forays of the
Apache from the south and the Ute from the north, which began at a
later period, should naturally have led to a defensive alliance; but
in those early days confederation was not dreamed of and the feeling
between the two pueblos culminated in the destruction of Sikyatki.
This was apparently the result of a quarrel between two pueblos of
East Mesa, or at least there is no intimation that the other pueblos
took prominent part in it. It is said that after the destruction some
of those who escaped fled to Oraibi, which would imply that the Walpi
and Oraibi peoples, even at that early date, were not on very friendly
terms. If, however, the statement that Oraibi was then a distinct
pueblo be true, it in a way affords a suggestion of the approximate
age[98] of this village.
There was apparently a more or less intimate connection between the
inhabitants of old Sikyatki and those of Awatobi, but whether or not
it indicates that the latter was founded by the refugees from the
former I have not been able definitely to make out. All my informants
agree that on the destruction of Sikyatki some of its people fled to
Awatobi, but no one has yet stated that the Kokop people were
represented in the latter pueblo. The distinctive clans of the pueblo
of Antelope mesa are not mentioned as living in Sikyatki, and yet the
two pueblos are said to have been kindred. The indications are that
the inhabitants of both came from the east--possibly were intruders,
which may have been the cause of the hostility entertained by both
toward the Walpians. The problem is too complex to be solved with our
present limited knowledge in this direction, and archeology seems not
to afford very satisfactory evidence one way or the other. We may
never know whether the Sikyatki refugees founded Awatobi or simply
fled to that pueblo for protection.
There appears to be no good evidence that Sikyatki was destroyed by
fire, nor would it seem that it was gradually abandoned. The larger
beams of the houses have disappeared from many rooms, evidently having
been appropriated in building or enlarging other pueblos.
There is nothing to show that any considerable massacre of the people
took place when the village was destroyed, in which respect it differs
considerably from Awatobi. There is little doubt that many Sikyatki
women were appropriated by the Walpians, and in support of this it is
stated that the Kokop people of the present Walpi are the descendants
of the people of that clan who dwelt at Sikyatki. This conclusion is
further substantiated by the statements of one of the oldest members
of the Kokop phratry who frequently visited me while the excavations
were in progress.
The destruction of Sikyatki and its consequent abandonment doubtless
occurred before the Spaniards obtained a foothold in the country. The
aged Hopi folklorists insist that such is the case, and the
excavations did not reveal any evidence to the contrary. If we add to
the negative testimony that Sikyatki is not mentioned in any of the
early writings, and that no fragment of metal, glass, or Spanish
glazed pottery has been taken from it, we appear to have substantial
proof of its prehistoric character.
In the early times when Sikyatki was a flourishing pueblo, Walpi was
still a small settlement on the terrace of the mesa just below the
present town that bears its name. Two ruins are pointed out as the
sites of Old Walpi, one to the northward of the modern town, and a
second more to the westward. The former is called at present the
Ash-heap house or pueblo, the latter Kisakobi. It is said that the
people whose ancestors formed the nucleus of the more northerly town
moved from there to Kisakobi on account of the cold weather, for it
was too much in the shadow of the mesa. Its general appearance would
indicate it to be older than the more westerly ruin, higher up on the
mesa. It was a pueblo of some size, and was situated on the edge of
the terrace. The refuse from the settlement was thrown over the edge
of the decline, where it accumulated in great quantities. This débris
contains many fragments of characteristic pottery, similar to that
from Sikyatki, and would well repay systematic investigation. No walls
of the old town rise more than a few feet above the surface, for most
of the stones have long ago been used in rebuilding the pueblo on
other sites. Kisakobi was situated higher up on the mesa, and bears
every appearance of being more modern than the ruin below. Its site
may readily be seen from the road to Keam's canyon, on the
terrace-like prolongation of the mesa. Some of the walls are still
erect, and the house visible for a great distance is part of the old
pueblo. This, I believe, was the site of Walpi at the time the
Spaniards visited Tusayan, and I have found here a fragment of pottery
which I believe is of Spanish origin. The ancient pueblo crowned the
ridge of the terrace which narrows here to 30 or 40 feet, so that
ancient Walpi was an elongated pueblo, with narrow passageways and no
rectangular court. I should judge, however, that the pueblo was not
inhabited for a great period, but was moved to its present site after
a few generations of occupancy. The Ash-hill village was inhabited
contemporaneously with Sikyatki, but Kisakobi was of later
construction. Neither Sichomovi nor Hano was in existence when
Sikyatki was in its prime, nor, indeed, at the time of its
abandonment. In 1782 Morfi spoke of Sichomovi as a pueblo recently
founded, with but fifteen families. Hano, although older, was
certainly not established before 1700.[99]
The assertions of all Hopi traditionists that Sikyatki is a
prehistoric ruin, as well as the scientific evidence looking the same
way, are most important facts in considering the weight of deductions
in regard to the character of prehistoric Tusayan culture.
Although we have no means of knowing how long a period has elapsed
since the occupancy and abandonment of Sikyatki, we are reasonably
sure that objects taken from it are purely aboriginal in character and
antedate the inception of European influence. It is certain, however,
that the Sikyatki people lived long enough in that pueblo to develop a
ceramic art essentially peculiar to Tusayan.