T. J. Ferguson

ARCHAEOLOGICAL CULTURES AND CULTURAL AFFILIATION: HOPI AND ZUNI PERSPECTIVES IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

Archaeologists and Native Americans apply different concepts to classify ancient groups of people who lived in the past. This is a topic of current interest because many archaeologists in the United States are now having to determine the cultural affiliation of the materials they study to comply with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The Hopi and Zuni tribes in the American Southwest are used as case examples to examine how and why archaeological and tribal views of cultural affiliation are divergent. We suggest anthropological perspectives of culture need to be reintegrated into archaeological theory in collaboration with Native Americans in order to interpret the past in a manner that is both useful and interesting to the multiple audiences interested in our work.

The premise and promise of indigenous archaeology

Researchers have increasingly promoted an emerging paradigm of Indigenous archaeology, which includes an array of practices conducted by, for, and with Indigenous communities to challenge the disciplines intellectual breadth and political economy. McGhee (2008) argues that Indigenous archaeology is not viable because it depends upon the essentialist concept of “Aboriginalism.” In this reply, we correct McGhees description of Indigenous Archaeology and demonstrate why Indigenous rights are not founded on essentialist imaginings. Rather, the legacies of colonialism, sociopolitical context of scientific inquiry, and insights of traditional knowledge provide a strong foundation for collaborative and community-based archaeology projects that include Indigenous peoples.

Critique of the claim of cannibalism at cowboy wash

Abstract The article by Billman et al. contributes to a growing body of data that demonstrates the complex variability of the Pueblo world during the twelfth century. Although the articles title promises a comprehensive review of major cultural and environmental processes (drought, warfare, cannibalism, regional interactions), relatively little theory regarding these processes informs their research design, and much of their interpretation is based on weak inferences. Their empirical data are not used to test alternative hypotheses or rigorously examine expectations derived from modeling. Dynamic aspects of cultural patterns relating to migration, settlement, environment, abandonment, mortuary behaviors, conflict, and group identity are implicated in their research but are not adequately contextualized. Our response to the study by Billman et al. is intended to provide a critical yet constructive commentary, propose fresh ways of thinking about what assemblages of disarticulated and broken bones might mean, and reformulate how research questions are being asked.

Virtue ethics and the practice of history: Native Americans and archaeologists along the San Pedro Valley of Arizona

For nearly a century archaeologists have endeavored to illuminate 12,000 years of Native American history in the San Pedro Valley of southeastern Arizona. Although this scholarship has established an essential foundation, it is limited by the construction of history through the singular interpretive framework of western scientific practice. The Tohono O’odham, Hopi, Zuni and Western Apache peoples all maintain oral traditions that provide alternative voices about the lives of their ancestors. This article examines the ethical environment of a collaborative ethnohistory project, which sought to document Native American histories and adjoin humanistic understandings of the past with scientific findings. We argue that a Virtue Ethics approach to the social context of this research offers sound moral guidance to a flourishing ethic of collaboration. Using this work as a case study, we aim to extend the available research models for future anthropological inquiry and broaden the ethical framework of historical research.

Repatriation at the Pueblo of Zuni: Diverse Solutions to Complex Problems

The Pueblo of Zuni has been actively involved in the repatriation of cultural property and human remains since 1977, long before the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990.1 Several key elements of the Zuni position regarding repatriation were incorporated into the act. The Zuni War Gods were mentioned by name as an exemplar of cultural patrimony to be covered by the law during the Senate hearings that preceded its passage.2 During the last eighteen years it has become clear that repatriation is not a monolithic issue, even where the cultural concerns of a single tribe are considered. While the Pueblo of Zuni has sought repatriation of some materials to resolve problems defined by tribal religious leaders, it also has declined or deferred the repatriation of other materials. The complexity of repatriation issues at the Pueblo of Zuni are illustrated by comparing the tribes effort to recover stolen Ahayu:da (Zuni War Gods) with its approach to the management of other cultural property and human remains. The rationale and the diverse approaches employed by the Pueblo of Zuni demonstrate why the Zuni Tribe seeks a case-by-case resolution of repatriation issues. Since other tribes and museums are currently grappling with many of the issues the Pueblo of Zuni already has addressed, Zuni activities can provide instructive examples of successful repatriation. The Zuni experience with repatriation should be examined by everyone interested in NAGPRAs implementation.

Putting patria back into repatriation Cultural affiliation assessment of White Mountain Apache tribal lands

In 2003 and 2004 the White Mountain Apache Tribe worked with the Hopi and Zuni tribes and the Western Apache NAGPRA Working Group on a geography-based cultural affiliation assessment of trust lands on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in the uplands of eastern Arizona. The project partnership examined a broad array of evidence bearing on cultural affiliation as a basis for improved implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Information provided by representatives of the historical and ancient American Indian occupants of White Mountain Apache lands complemented existing archaeological data about cultural affiliation, thus shifting the focus from artifacts and archaeologically defined cultural groups to sacred landscapes and forms of knowledge linking geography, people, and archaeology. The project provided specific recommendations for intertribal repatriation and reburial efforts as well as more general guidelines for cultural and environmental heritage stewardship.

Intersecting magisteria: Bridging archaeological science and traditional knowledge

Stephen Jay Gould famously argued that science and religion are fundamentally ‘nonoverlapping magisteria’ — two spheres of understanding that should peacefully coexist without intersecting. However, when Native American religious practices contain cultural and historical information that can inform archaeological interpretations, the wall separating these spheres of knowledge necessarily breaks down. This essay examines how archaeological science and traditional knowledge can be bridged, by exploring the ancient history and contemporary meanings of archaeological sites in northeastern Arizona, a landscape that is important to the Hopi and Zuni, among other tribes. Methodologically this work builds outward from a series of ‘placebased interviews’ to create a framework for collaborative research, while theoretically it builds upwards from the foundation of an ‘ethnocritical approach’ that willingly returns to the sacred. Through such collaborative projects, we may develop a shared authority for shared places, meeting upon the magisteria’s common ground.

Co-Creation of Knowledge by the Hopi Tribe and Archaeologists

Abstract For two decades, the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office has worked with archaeologists to co-create knowledge about the past and document contemporary values associated with heritage sites. Much of this work has been accomplished within the framework of research mandated by the National Historic Preservation Act and National Environmental Policy Act. Here we describe a case study that illustrates the processes of this community-based participatory research, including research design, implementation of fieldwork, peer review of research findings, and reporting. The case study is a project conducted in 2014 by the Hopi Tribe in partnership with Anthropological Research, LLC, to investigate traditional cultural properties associated with an Arizona Public Service Company transmission line. The Hopi Tribe’s collaborative research with archaeologists provides intellectual benefits for the management of archaeological resources and the humanistic and scientific understanding of the past.

The Snow-Capped Mountain and the Uranium Mine

Abstract Known in English as Mount Taylor, Dewankwin Kyaba:chu Yalanne (“in the east snow-capped mountain”) in northwestern New Mexico is a sacred landscape to the Zuni people. From an archaeological perspective, the mountain is dotted with hundreds of discrete archaeological sites that record 12,000 years of history. From a Zuni perspective, Mount Taylor is a rich cultural landscape—a tangible record of ancestral migrations, a living being, a pilgrimage site, a referent in religious prayers, a spiritual source of rain, and a collecting place for spring water, animals, minerals, and plants. For Zunis, all of these facets of the mountain combine to create a “total landscape” that is both a source and an instrument of Zuni culture. This article presents a case study of a compliance project to document the potential impacts of a proposed uranium mine at the base of Mount Taylor on Zuni traditional cultural properties. The project demonstrates how archaeologists can benefit from a landscape perspective that builds from the traditional knowledge of descendant communities. The Zuni standpoint further helps shape a CRM practice that is anthropologically informed and consistent with a developing federal mandate to use landscape-scale analysis in heritage management and mitigation practices.

Mapping the Hopi Landscape for Cultural Preservation

For the Hopi people, named places on the landscape localize, commemorate, and transmit traditional knowledge within a spatial context used to reference and explain Hopi history and culture—geographic information the Hopi Tribe seeks to preserve. This paper discusses the Hopi Cultural Preservation Offices use of geospatial technologies during recent collaborative efforts to document important places and associated cultural information. It considers how GIS and other geospatial technologies have been used to produce maps and digital imagery in a manner guided by traditional landscape perspectives and native epistemologies. Mapping Hopi lands provides many benefits, foremost being the preservation of place-related knowledge for future generations of Hopis. Geospatial technologies also facilitate Hopi efforts of heritage management by providing a medium that effectively demonstrates use of traditional landscapes to non-Hopi audiences.