Video
Aztec Ruins: Footprints of the Past
Transcript
Over one thousand years ago in the heart of the American southwest change swept through this unforgiving desert and scrubland. People began to build on a monumental scale. Architects and masons constructed a series of massive buildings reflecting a sacred landscape. They stretched from Chaco Canyon in the south… to Mesa Verde and beyond to the north and west …. and roughly halfway between … is Aztec Ruins. For a brief period, less than two hundred years, Aztec’s people flourished here. Who were these people? What inspired them to build? Why did they choose this place? And why build on such a grand scale? What connects us to a place that is over 900 years old? For the descendents of Aztec’s builders, the Pueblo people, the connection between past and present is clear. Peter Pino (1:55): The archaeologists for many years have talked about the abandonment of some of the sites up in this area. The sites were never abandoned. To the Pueblo people, these buildings should not be considered ruins. Peter Pino continued (1:55): The sites are occupied by the spirits of our ancestors. And we come to these places as holy places, places where we say a prayer, places where we can get guidance from the spirit world that exists in this area. While the Pueblo people are clearly connected to the site, there are still many questions about this place, and there are just as many viewpoints and possible answers. Peter McKenna 07:00 There are multiple truths. For Aztec, I would emphasize that not one story covers it all. Loris Ann Taylor For Hopi people, it’s difficult to comprehend what goes through the minds of other people when they’re trying to explain what might have happened and through the course of their explanations they change history. So, it’s revisionist history from our point of view. Even within groups of archaeologists and Native Americans, there are different interpretations of this place and its meaning, like variations on a theme. There are even many versions of what to call it. Peter Pino, 04:20 This whole area, the whole four corners area, we call it goshcotlit, (sp?) meaning the place with many houses. Ernest Vallo: 02:15 A lot of our 19 Pueblos have their own oral traditions. Aztec in our oral tradition is wetlands, Missfits is what we say, missfits, meaning wetlands. This is coming from the Acoma perspective, Taft Blackhorse, Disc 3 of 3 07:45 Aztec. Well, it’s called “Kincay” meaning wide complex. Spanish explorers and early settlers applied a generic label of “Aztec” to many archaeological sites in the southwest. They incorrectly referred to this place as Aztec Ruins, and the name stuck. Just as there are many names, there are many versions of how it all began. The origin story of many Pueblo People tells of how they emerged from the navel of the earth. It was the beginning of a long migration, or journey in which Aztec would hold a central place. Phillip Tuwaletstiwa 22:30 When we emerged, we were told that what was called Massaland would become Hopitwosquare, Hopiland, that was the covenant, if we did our part, and our part was to leave our footprints. Ernest Vallo:01:30 That’s is one of the very significant prayer that we have, it’s the migration and the origin prayer that usually starts from the north, and the names that are mentioned are Mesa Verde, Aztec, Chaco. According to our traditions, they say we stopped four times. Loris Ann Taylor 08:05: For Hopi people some times, a span of time is irrelevant. It’s as if it were yesterday that the migrations took place. Archeological records show that people spread through the Four Corners region, settling along the river bottoms and arroyos. Peter Pino They were hunters and gatherers, and they picked plants that were edible and hunted animals so that they could feed their families. And when they got into this region, the four corners region, that’s where they started to pick up the art of farming and started making roots, building more permanent structures. First, they began to build simple, stone rooms. Then, in Chaco Canyon, they began to build on a larger scale. To archeologists, it’s not clear what inspired the builders—for some Pueblo, this question misses the point. Loris Ann Taylor 01:45 What I do know is what every Hopi knows. These ruins these places, these centers that dot the southwest have great meaning for the Hopi people, living places where the ancestors still remain, places that tell the story of how Hopis came to the center of the universe, which is the current Hopi reservation, and how those journeys themselves, the migration journey helped forge the character of the people who are here today. In both tribal history and in the views of some archeologists, there was overlap and a progression from Chaco Canyon to Aztec. Around AD 1100, builders began to construct Aztec on land overlooking the Animas River. Peter McKenna 05:45 Aztec follows Chaco. They selected that spot and they built on it. There was nothing there before it. They moved in, they built this thing, and they built it from scratch, and they built it the way they wanted to. This was a major undertaking, requiring planning and an organized, cohesive work force. Without wheels or pack animals, the builders carried stone from over three miles away, and lumber from fifty miles away. A unique feature of Aztec is strips of green stone inlaid as part of some walls.In less than 30 years, the builders turned 3 acres of open land into a complex of structures. They constructed more than 400 rooms, some stacked three stories high. According to the Pueblo people and the Navajo, the buildings reveal how the people fit into their world. Ron Largo, Steven Begay interview: The buildings are a map of the land, and they represent sacred places in the environment… These structures represent the holy landscape. Mike Marshall The Pueblo people had been telling the missionaries a lot, “Our bible is the land,” The archeology is nested into that and it is structured into that.” This connection between the spiritual and physical world was reflected in the layout of the buildings. The north wall of the west pueblo lines up exactly with the path of the sun at the summer solstice. Mike Marshall: The mathematics of it, how these buildings relate to the lunar standstill cycles, and various astronomic bearings, so that ties in the cosmos, the celestial realm with the earth realm, all of which are being tied back into the underworld, and we’re getting this sort of integrated, amazing system of architecture and cosmos. But how the people used Aztec Ruins changed over the years. At first, the buildings might have served ceremonial, religious or other social purposes, with few people living in them. Later, more people began using them for daily living. All around Aztec, the people irrigated and planted corn throughout the bottomland. And they traded for goods from places as far away as the Pacific Ocean and central Mexico. The Great Kiva was the center of the community. It was here that the people held celebrations year round. Its importance is reflected in the effort it took to build – the roof alone may have weighed 95 tons. This complex took enormous energy, time and planning to construct… It would seem like a permanent settlement, but then, around 1290, the people left everything. For 600 years, the buildings were mostly left untouched, becoming buried by drifting sand and dirt. Then, in 1916, an archaeologist named Earl Morris, who grew up near Aztec, began a systematic excavation for the American Museum of Natural History. Peter McKenna The man was a human backhoe … Aztec is certainly his monument. Working at Aztec is a lifetime job. One of his last achievements was to reconstruct the Great Kiva. It took five months, using modern technology. Morris dug at Aztec for seven years, and excavated almost 2/3rds of the west pueblo. Despite this extensive work, he could not find an answer to why the people had left Aztec 600 years earlier. Theories include the possibility that agriculture collapsed due to a series of droughts. Another theory is that there was social upheaval. Or, Aztec might have just been one part of the Pueblo people’s journey…a continuation of the same journey that began when they believe they emerged from the navel of the earth. This migration didn’t stop with Aztec—this site was just part of the travels their people undertook to fulfill their spiritual role as stewards of the land. The people moved south and east to the Rio Grande and Zuni Rivers, or west to the Hopi mesas. But to this day, the Pueblo don’t see Aztec as abandoned – they feel the site is still alive. The Pueblo people come here to honor their ancestors in many ways. One such tradition is the butterfly dance. Christopher Edaakie: What our grandmothers and grandfathers always tell us is thatwhen you go and visit these ancestral pueblos, you may go, you know, see these site where, you know… it looks deserted. But they tell us they’re not deserted. The spirits of those grandfathers and mothers are still there. And when archaeologists look at this site, they also see a story that’s still unfolding and nowhere near finished. Peter McKenna Those are big finds, but I tell you it doesn’t touch the tip of the iceberg in terms of the information that’s there. At least half of the settlement—much of the East Pueblo and other buildings and mounds—remain unexcavated. Loris Ann Taylor According to other historians, it seems to be a great mystery. For Hopis, there’s really no mystery at all because the people were on a journey. It didn’t mean that they didn’t have time to set up a society that was quite sophisticated in nature. Hopis hold those places as places of deep reverence, symbolize the strength of the people. There are many different ways to interpret why these buildings exist and what they mean. And it’s this ongoing discovery that makes Aztec such a vital place today. Ernest Vallo: 0320 They left their imprints here, their spirits are still here. I always usually ask their permission because this was their homeland, my ancestors’ homeland. This place is for everybody as long as they respect it.
Description
Aztec Ruins: Footprints of the Past is a 15-minute orientation film where you can learn about the history of Aztec Ruins and hear diverse perspectives from Pueblo people, Navajo tribal members, and archeologists.
Duration
15 minutes, 34 seconds
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