Existing comment:
Villagers shared walls, water, food, protection, and prayer. Like us, they depended on one another, celebrated life and marked passages, planned for, reacted, and adapted to environmental and social circumstances.
On this day, the community has gathered to celebrate the harvest and honor their lifeways. Women prepare food for a feast; men and boys engage in contest in the ballcourt. Later, there will be ceremonies. Rituals help establish harmony and encourage rain and fertility.
Their way of living was key to survival in this challenging land. For more than 100 years, people thrived here, farming one of the warmest and driest places on the Colorado Plateau. Skill at growing crops under difficult conditions and willingness to endure hardship allowed people to persist where many would not.
Their descendants, the Hopi, Zuni, and other Pueblo groups, still adhere to a lifeway that values hard work and spiritual life over material possessions.
The location, height, and size (100 rooms) of this village, along with its public spaces -- a ceremonial ballcourt (shown above), large plaza (not in view), and community room (left) -- suggest it was not a typical household but rather an important meeting place. It had no equal in the region.
Most people lived in numerous small dwellings found for miles around; those living here may have held ritual and leadership responsibilities.
Descendants say prophecy and beliefs guided decisions and that villages like this were purposefully settled and left. When clans departed, doorways were scaled and items left in rooms; maybe people hoped to return one day. The reasons for leaving were likely varied. By the 1200s the area was denuded of trees and shrubs and soils were depleted. As the environment changed, perhaps conflicts increased or trade networks shifted and other villages had more to offer. |