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

Chapter Fourteen:
Conclusions, cont.

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Inter-visibility

LeBlanc (1999) and Haas and Creamer (1993) argue that inter-visibility between villages became critical during times of conflict. This would allow signaling between the villages to ask for support or to warn of threat. Given that Homol'ovi IV is the only village within 35 miles, its location does not seem likely due to the need for inter-visibility with the closest neighbors. Additionally, the location of the village in the Little Colorado River valley totally hides it from the view of Hopi Mesa villages and the same is true for Chavez Pass.

Differentiation of Site Use by Elevation

As noted under the section on perimeter walls, the upper pueblo located on the top of the Homol'ovi IV butte is restricted in its access from rooms below the butte. The walls are built to the very edge of the butte on all sides of the butte except the south where the mesa top pueblo could be accessed using a stone stairway. However, the top of the stairway ended at a double coursed wall that was probably two stories high. From there the pueblo could only have been accessed by a ladder. This suggests the mesa top pueblo was an elite district, probably containing the founders of the village, since it was the first part of the village constructed. In accordance with Hopi oral tradition, these village leaders would also have controlled the major ceremonies of the village and owned the best land (Levy 1991).

Summary

The evidence presented above supports the construction of Homol'ovi IV on the top and sides of a butte for reasons of power and prestige rather than due to fears of conflict or warfare. None of the expectations of village architecture or material culture supports warfare as an explanation for the Homol'ovi IV village configuration. The limited access to the top of the village suggests these individuals controlled power within the village and it was expressed by limiting access to their rooms on top. It is possible these rooms were used primarily for the performance of rituals or the storage of sacred objects. No excavation was done in the rooms on top of the butte and their extensive vandalism may preclude answering this question.

The possibility that Homol'ovi IV was established as a boundary marker by occupants of villages on the Hopi Mesa to maintain ownership of this section of the Little Colorado River valley could not really be addressed with the excavation data. It therefore cannot be supported or refuted as an explanation for why Homol'ovi IV was established. The specific location of the village seems more strongly associated with the importance of buttes as means to differentiate status within pueblo society than any other reason. The rock art with repeated images of the same element does support Homol'ovi IV as a shrine visited by groups, probably from the Hopi Mesas. If these visits were made while the village was occupied, this would support the boundary hypothesis. If the visits were made after Homol'ovi IV was abandoned, this would support the village being an important shrine to mark its place as a former home to immigrant groups. Unfortunately, it is not possible to differentiate between these two possible uses because the rock art cannot be dated precisely enough; however, the style of execution is consistent for the period Homol'ovi IV was occupied. Rock art across the modern road from Homol'ovi IV has katsina images consistent with depiction after Homol'ovi IV was abandoned and also consistent with its continued use as a shrine after abandonment perhaps by descendant groups from Homol'ovi I or from villages still occupied on the Hopi Mesas.

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