Chuck Adams with ASM archaeologist Rich Lange

Today’s blog is written by ASM archaeologist Dr. E. Charles Adams. Dr. Adams runs the Homol’ovi Research Program.

My favorite object story begins on a typical summer day in northeastern Arizona at the ancient Hopi village of Homol’ovi II, just outside Winslow. Homol’ovi is the Hopi word used to describe the Winslow area and means place of small hills or buttes. The ASM archaeology crew had been working at Homol’ovi II for three years as part of a long-term project to help interpret and preserve these important Hopi communities that are now protected as Homol’ovi Ruins State Park.

As part of our desire to collect samples from all parts of the village, which at 1,200 rooms is the largest in the area, we were excavating in a kiva in the eastern portion of the village.

Homol'ovi site plan

In the Hopi language, kiva literally means underground room, but for archaeologists we use it to refer to structures we believe were used primarily for planning and conducting ceremonies. The kiva in the east plaza was small and had been burned. A lot of interesting artifacts had been recovered including baskets, a blanket, and a bowl that had an image of a bird in flight painted on its bottom.

At the end of the excavation of any structure, we spend time cleaning off the walls to first uncover the plaster that covers them and eventually to remove parts of the plaster to see how the wall was built. In this particular case as the plaster on the west wall was being uncovered, I noticed what appeared to be white paint, but it was in an odd pattern and covered only part of the wall. At first I thought it was simply a whitewash that had flaked or washed away from part of the wall. But, as the plaster cleaning progressed and I stepped back, I realized a distinct pattern had formed. To my astonishment, what was revealed seemed to be a painting of the San Francisco Peaks. The painting was solid white and depicted quite accurately the profile of the Peaks as seen from Homol’ovi II. It was easy to confirm this as all I needed to do was look up and I could see the Peaks on the horizon north of Flagstaff 50 miles to the west. As we uncovered the other walls, we discovered that the Hopi Buttes, part of a massive volcanic field north of Homol’ovi II, was also depicted on the north and east walls. In other words, on the kiva walls were depicted the major features of the landscape as viewed from Homol’ovi II.

Homol'ovi Wall Mural

San Francisco Peaks, courtesty E.C. Adams

I quickly invited Hopi religious leaders to see the murals. These leaders were on the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office’s consultant team. Upon their arrival, it was clear they were thrilled and excited by the discovery. After much discussion in their native language, it was revealed that the kiva was probably used by the Sun Chief to keep track of the sun and possibly moon for the Hopi calendar in order to announce when important events were to be held in the community. This practice is still conducted today in the traditional villages on the Hopi mesas just 60 miles north of Homol’ovi II. To my knowledge no other kiva has been discovered in the Southwest with similar paintings, so this is unique and an important contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the history of the Hopi people.