ASM Occasional Electronic Papers No. 1: Homol'ovi IV

Chapter One:
Introduction, cont.

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Purposes for Homol'ovi IV: Material Culture Expectations

Given the possible roles for Homol'ovi IV when it was established, it is important to outline expected outcomes of material culture given each role. With these expectations in mind, it will be easier to evaluate the data and to make conclusions about what material remains should look like.

Defense

If the construction of Homol'ovi IV is focused on defense -- the fear of attack by others -- then our expectations, following LeBlanc (1999) and Haas and Creamer (1993) should be:

1. Hilltop locations or high, unbroken walls should be featured. Although Homol'ovi IV is on a hilltop, given that most of the village spills down the sides and onto the flat floodplain at the foot of the butte, we would expect high, unbroken walls at the base (LeBlanc 1999:56-57).

2. Given that the walls of the structures could form this barrier, we would not expect any exterior walls to have doors or windows (LeBlanc 1999:57).

3. Haas and Creamer (1993) note that defensive locations for Kayenta area villages, which date 1250-1300 or contemporary with Homol'ovi IV, feature the entire village on the mesa or butte top with defensive walls across any access points.

4. LeBlanc (1999:63-65) argues that rapid construction of the village using ladder construction suggests perceived threats from outside and the need to aggregate quickly. The presence of such construction would support the defensive nature of the site.

5. LeBlanc (1999:69-71) notes that large no-man's lands together with clusters of settlements are typical of times of warfare and need for defense. The spacing of Homol'ovi IV at great distance from any other contemporary villages fits this pattern, but there is no associated settlement cluster.

6. LeBlanc (1999:73) also notes that villages are located on prominences for line-of-sight communication. Homol'ovi IV could certainly fit this model, but there is no contemporary settlement within 50 km. Its closeness to a large mesa on the west would block line-of-site.

7. If warfare were endemic, burning of numerous rooms to the entire village of Homol'ovi IV could be an expected outcome (LeBlanc 1999:81-83).

8. In terms of artifacts, LeBlanc (1999: 102-112, 116-117) notes that iconography can often depict violent acts or objects of warfare, such as shields or weapons. The presence of considerable rock art at Homol'ovi IV, therefore, could depict acts or objects of war.

9. LeBlanc (1999:112-116) also notes that large numbers of projectile points, axes, and daggers would be expected in the archaeological record and should occur at Homol'ovi IV beyond subsistence needs.

10. It is expected that trade relationships with nearby settlements might not exist or could be in flux do to hostile relationships. Nevertheless, trade might exist with more distant groups or with local groups as relations changed through time (LeBlanc 1999:297-300).

11. Because aggregation is a typical defensive response to external threat, it is expected that Homol'ovi IV should be a product of local aggregation (LeBlanc 1999:62-63). Therefore, continuity of occupation shown through maintenance of ceramic and other traditions combined with abandonment of local small sites should occur.

12. Population growth, as represented through village size and layout, should be rapid as nearby small villages are abandoned and to have the size to defeat or deter attack from nearby settlements.

Border Maintenance

A slight variation on the defense theme is Adams (2002) argument that Homol'ovi IV was just the first in a line of villages established at Homol'ovi to maintain or reinforce the boundaries of communities existing on the Hopi Mesas. If this is the case, then, the elevated nature of Homol'ovi IV may be to maintain this watchdog role. If Homol'ovi IV was established to create a boundary or to assert ownership of the Little Colorado River valley around Homol'ovi, the expectation is a settlement similar to ones at Hopi at the time, a village of some size (population) to be able to reinforce ownership of the area, precedence of use of the area by people ancestral to Hopi, continued strong ties to Hopi from Homol'ovi IV.

1. Migration from a distant source would be one possible expectation of a model based on boundary maintenance. Adams (2002:93) argues that Homol'-ovi IV was settled by immigrants from the Hopi Mesas based on pottery, architectural layout, room size, and kiva size and configuration.

2. Another implication of the border model is that a perceived threat recently developed in the area. The 1250-1300 period on the Colorado Plateau was a time of extensive population movement (Cordell 1997). Groups leaving the Kayenta area of northeastern Arizona were migrating to Point of Pines and other locations in east central and southeastern Arizona beginning in the 1250s of 1260s (Haury 1958; Lindsay 1992; Woodson 2000). This could have presented a real threat to 13th century Hopi use of this area.

3. History of use of the Homol'ovi area prior to the founding of Homol'ovi IV was dominated by northern groups, especially from the Hopi Buttes and Hopi Mesa areas (Adams 2002; Lange 1998). This prior use suggests the area would naturally be considered part of Hopi Butte/Hopi Mesa territory.

4. Homol'ovi IV, as a boundary community, is expected to maintain close ties to villages on the Hopi Mesas, which should be apparent in the material record throughout the village occupation.

5. Initial population should be sizeable to establish the settlement and to act as a suitable deterrent to competitive settlements by other groups.

6. The need to protect an area implies that it has a history of value to the group. Therefore, the area around Homol'ovi IV should have resources of value to Hopi mesa communities.

7. Rock art at Homol'ovi IV would include symbols denoting ownership, such as clan symbols.

Ritual and Monumentality

Recently archaeologists (Downum, Fish, and Fish 1994; O'Donovan 2002; McGuire 1998) have advanced the theory that with their location on prominent hills and their massive walls at least some cerros de trincheras along the international border between Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora, and Chihuahua were established in part for ritual or symbolic importance. Such monumentality reinforces or establishes power relationships based on ritual. Throughout northern Arizona after A.D. 1150 to about 1300, villages were built on the tops and sides of buttes. If this expression were to create power or status differentials in pueblo culture for this period, our expectations would be:

1. Construction would be on the top of the butte first and would house the most prominent members of the village.

2. If the top rooms are not for habitation, the architecture may be for ritual purposes and be distinctive in size, type of wall, or other ways.

3. The sides of the butte would be expected to have architecture. This architecture will probably be domestic.

4. There may be restricted access to the top, but it should not be a barrier, such as a wall.

5. If power relationships are being emphasize at Homol'ovi IV, these are probably based on ritual. It would be expected, therefore, that ritual structures should be present within the room blocks as well as on top of the butte or more public spaces.

6. Ritual artifacts should be concentrated in rooms on top of the butte or in areas with restricted access.

7. Rock art at Homol'ovi IV should be esoteric and some may not be accessible or visible to the general population.

Of course, none of these models may explain the true reasons Homol'ovi IV was built on a butte and established on a particular butte, or elements of all models could be true. The following chapters will discuss the general environment and location of Homol'ovi IV, a description of the village and details of architecture defined through mapping and excavations, the chronological basis to dating Homol'ovi IV, the artifactual assemblages collected during excavations, and conclusions where the evidence supporting or not supporting the various models will be reconsidered.

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