Dissertation Research: The Gathering of the Clans: Understanding Migration into the Hopi Area, A.D. 1275-1400

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Under the direction of Dr. Michelle Hegmon, Mr. Wesley Bernardini will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. His research focuses on the late prehistoric period in the US Southwest (ca. 1200 to 1400 AD) and will test a theory of Hopi people's migration. Both archaeological and ethnographic data indicate that during this time interval extensive migration and population shifts occurred in the Hopi region of northern Arizona and that the present distribution of Hopi villages and people was determined during this period. Mr. Bernardini wishes to understand the mechanisms which underlie this process. The dominant archaeological view is that such population movements likely occurred at a macro scale in which all individuals in an entire village moved together in mass to a new location and most analytical units which researchers employ are defined at this scale. Hopi tradition itself paints a different picture and describes a more piecemeal process in which a very small group within a donor village would migrate to one host location while another group (clan) from the same point of origin would move elsewhere. As a result host villages were highly heterogeneous and villages in close proximity may have shared share fewer ties to each other than to villages further away. This issue is important to anthropologists who wish to understand historic, and present day, Hopi social organization. Mr. Bernardini will focus on the chemical analysis of ceramics recovered from donor population villages. Prior research has indicated that a particular kind of pottery, "Jeddito Yellow Ware" was manufactured only by Hopi but then traded widely. Significant amounts have been recovered from sites in regions outside the immediate Hopi area and Mr. Bernardini hypothesizes that these trading ties established in pre-migration times provided the pathways along which migrants later moved. The analysis takes advantage of the geological variability within the Hopi region. Clay and temper sources are distinct between different Hopi subregions and often allow one to match a sherd recovered tens of miles away with the individual village at which it was produced. By examining chemical variability among Jeditto Yellow Ware sherds within individual donor villages and with specific Hopi regions, a network of linkages can be established. This in turn very likely set the template for movement of people as well. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide insight into the basic process of migration. It will provide data of interest to many anthropologists, increase our understanding of the prehistoric US Southwest and assist in training a promising young scientist.