Existing comment:
Homelands:
When farming groups migrated from the valley, others -- more reliant on hunting and gathering -- remained. They are represented today by the Wipukpaia (Northeastern Yavapai) and the Dil zhe e (Tonto Apache). Both share the belief that Montezuma Well is their place of origin.
Scant archeological evidence exists to suggest how long each group has been in the Verde Valley. Yavapai consultants say that wherever the Hopi lived, the Yavapai also lived; they identify Yavapai sites next to Ancestral Puebloan sites and have stories of Hopi clans that came from the south.
Yavapai sites, as well as Apache, are not easily identified. The hunter-gatherer lifestyle demanded portable and lightweight things; these mobile minimalists lived very lightly on the land. They were able to survive environmental changes and social pressures through flexibility, at least until the arrival of Euro-American settlers in the 1860s.
"... the people that used to live here are still thriving, they didn't abandon their places, they are still connected spiritually."
-- Jerome Zunie, Pueblo of Zuni |