Coronado National Memorial Historical Research Project Research Topics Written by Joseph P. Sánchez, Ph.D. John Howard White, Ph.D. Edited by Angélica Sánchez-Clark, Ph.D. With the assistance of Hector Contreras, David Gómez and Feliza Monta University of New Mexico Graduate Students Spanish Colonial Research Center A Partnership between the University of New Mexico and the National Park Service [Version Date: May 20, 2014] 1 Coronado National Memorial Coronado Expedition Research Topics 1) Research the lasting effects of the expedition in regard to exchanges of cultures, Native American and Spanish. Was the shaping of the American Southwest a direct result of the Coronado Expedition's meetings with natives? The answer to this question is embedded throughout the other topics. However, by 1575, the Spanish Crown declared that the conquest was over and the new policy of pacification would be in force. Still, the next phase that would shape the American Southwest involved settlement, missionization, and expansion for valuable resources such as iron, tin, copper, tar, salt, lumber, etc. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s expedition did set the Native American wariness toward the Spanish occupation of areas close to them. Rebellions were the corrective to their displeasure over colonial injustices and institutions as well as the mission system that threatened their beliefs and spiritualism. In the end, a kind of syncretism and symbiosis resulted. Today, given that the Spanish colonial system recognized that the Pueblos and mission Indians had a legal status, land grants issued during that period protects their lands against the new settlement pattern that followed: that of the Anglo-American. The Pueblos base their land holdings on Spanish law, and apply it to Anglo-American legal procedures. Under Spanish governance, the “cane of authority” is still the symbol of authority, the once a year election of governors, the council and the written law are a part of the colonial heritage among the Pueblo Indians. Christianity is practiced among the Pueblos along with their religious and spiritual beliefs. Foods, language, governance, technology (and weaponry), farming techniques and irrigation systems and cultural exchanges today define the Native American domain that was once held by Spain and, later, Mexico. 2) Identify/discuss native peoples living in the San Pedro River Valley during the 16th century. Early Native American Settlement Patterns in present Southwestern U.S. prior to Coronado’s Expedition Of all migrations (inclusive of Spanish, Mexican and Anglo-American) into the area, today commonly known as the Greater Southwest, none can match the slow but epochal marches of Native American tribes. Over many centuries, the ancestors of Native American tribes probed each valley for hundreds of years prior to the coming of Europeans, built towns, and spread their cultures beyond the confines of a vast territory within the Greater Southwest. Indeed, not only are they the first settlers of the Americas, they are the longest termed occupants of the land for thousands of years. When Spaniards first saw the Indian villages along the Río Grande, they commented that they lived in "pueblos" or villages, some of which were made of adobe or stone. The word "pueblo" distinguished these tribes from Plains Indians who lived in teepees. From west to east, the Pueblo People occupied a large area of land from northeastern Arizona to the Pecos River in eastern New Mexico. From north to south, many pueblos were located along 2 the Río Grande from Taos to El Paso. In western New Mexico, Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, Jemez, Santa Ana, and Zia maintained their cultures from times immemorial. Similarly, straddling the Great Plains of eastern New Mexico, Pueblo cultures ranged from the Piro and Tompiro villages behind the Manzano Mountain Range to the ancient pueblos at Paako, Galisteo, and Pecos as far north as Picuris and Taos. It is possible that the initial waves of migrants from northeast Asia began their movements toward North America earlier than 30,000 years ago. The first tangible evidence, a leaf-shaped flint spear point with fluted faces or grooves on both sides, has been dated to 12,000 years ago. It was found near Clovis, New Mexico, for which the Clovis Period site is named. The first spear points were discovered along with bones of a large prehistoric mammals. Since then other points have been widely discovered over much of North America in sites dating to at least 11,500 years. Other sites have been carbon-14 dated to 12,000 and 14,000 years ago. Sites in Mexico, such as that at Tepexpan, indicate a slightly different date, yet contemporary to the Clovis Period culture. Sites in Brazil and Chile indicate that stone tool and hearth remains may possibly date as far back as 30,000 years ago. Given the conclusive dating of Clovis and Tepexpan period cultures, and until a more remote date can be proven, however, most anthropologist hold to the conservative dating of 12,000 years ago. The earliest known documented occupation of North America reaches back 10,000 to 15,000 years, and other evidence indicates that a change from hunting and gathering cultures took place about 3,000 years ago with the domestication of corn. Farming became a new way of life for many cultures leading to more sedentary lifestyles. Thus, in the final centuries before Christ, the ability to grow and harvest plants year after year made permanent settlements near small streams or rivers possible. Early settlements date to about 800 B.C. at a point when settlements began to spread throughout the continent. Nearly 1,000 years later, about 200 B.C., early settlers in Mexico moved from basket making to pottery. Given the durability of pots, the settlers used them for cooking and for storing water and foodstuffs. Slowly basketry and pottery spread from Mexico northward to the settlements within the present Southwest of the United States. Over the centuries, several prehistoric cultures, largely in Arizona, evolved in the Southwest: Sinagua, Mogollon, Hohokam, Hakataya, and Western and Eastern Anasazi. The Sinagua and Hakataya sites share many cultural traits with the Mogollon, Hohokam, and Anasazi. The Sinagua, Spanish for "without water," were located in central Arizona and represent the development of an 8th to 12th century Pueblo Period culture. A volcanic eruption in the 1060s forced them to evacuate the area, but they returned. Like the Hohokam, the Sinagua borrowed from their neighbors inclusive of such innovations as irrigation systems, ceremonial ball courts, and flag stone masonry to build their homes. By the 1300s, the Sinagua appear to have abandoned the area and their culture either disappeared or melded into other larger cultures in the area. Examples of their architectural styles are evident at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and at Wupatki National Monument near Flagstaff, Arizona. Also called Patayan, the Hakataya, a Yuman name for the Colorado River, occupied sites in present western Arizona, Baja California, southeastern California and southern Nevada. Both the Sinagua and the Hakataya, displayed varied stages of farming, 3 basket making, and the production of stone, shell, and turquoise ornaments for jewelry and other artistic or ceremonial purposes. The Mogollon culture appeared about 200-300 A.D. and had become virtually extinct by the time the first Spanish explorers passed through the area in 1540. The Mogollon culture is named for the Mogollon Mountains in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico as well as southwestern Texas and northern Chihuahua. The Mogollon people lived in pit houses on high mesas for protection. Pit houses roofed with poles, brush and dirt, were dug several feet into the ground for good insulation against the cold of winter and the heat of summer. The Mogollon people were farmers and grew corn, squash and beans. They ground corn in metates (stone grinding slabs) with manos (stone grinders). They were also hunters, fishermen, and gatherers. They were also among the early pottery makers and decorated their ware with geometrical figures and stylized wild animal figures such as mountain lions, fish, birds, rabbits, deer, Mountain Sheep and frogs. Sometimes their art included human forms. The Hohokam people made their home in an area that stretched from southern Arizona between present Phoenix and Tucson then south into western Sonora to a point near Flagstaff in the north. Similar to the Mogollon culture, the Hohokam spanned a time period from 200 A.D. to the middle 1400s. The Pimas and Papagos referred to them as Hohokam or "those who have gone." The perplexing Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, believed to be a Hohokam site near Phoenix, preserves the ruins of a massive four-story structure built of high-lime desert soil nearly 700 years ago. The Hohokam were farmers. They constructed canals to bring irrigation waters from streams or rivers to their small fields. They cultivated corn, squash, beans, and cotton. They also, similar to Mesoamerican cultures, played a ball game with ball courts and mounds. Their homes, constructed above ground were primitive, at first, made of waddle and daub. As their culture progressed, they constructed their homes of adobe. The Hohokam made jewelry, pottery and clay figurines. They used shells from the Gulf of California and the Pacific Coast, which they mostly acquired by trade. It is possible they undertook trips to collect shells for their decorative jewelry such as pendants. They made beads, rings, and bracelets. Like other cultures, they used animal and human figures on their designs. The Anasazi were largely located in northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and adjoining parts of Colorado and Utah. Originally, the Anasazi were hunter-gathers who, by 3,000 years ago, began planting corn, squash, beans and other crops. Anthropologists commonly refer to the Pueblo pre-agricultural period as the Basket Maker I stage lasting up to 3,000 years ago.