3/27 Notes

Cultural Geography Quiz 3: End of ClassPick up all old work

First---finishing up last lectureSpanish & Mexican SW

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2

More Spanish Explorers of the Southwest

• Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino– 1692-1711– Reached

Tucson– Jesuit– Technology– Livestock– Agriculture

What did he see?

3

Spanish Presidios

• Military Forts• Protection

– Indian Raiding• Livestock (cattle,

horses) abundant• Farming nearby• Tucson, Tubac, El

Paso• Ended in 1821.

4

Spanish Missions• San Xavier del Bac

(White Dove of the Desert)– Kino 1692– 1770s rebuilt by

Franciscans– Just SW of Tucson– Still active church– Still active

farming• Tumacácori.

http://www.smrc-missiontours.com/

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***Big Pont***European Native American

Exchange

• Cattle, Horses• Sheep, Goats, Pigs• Citrus, Figs• Metal tools• Guns• Distilled Alcohol• Epidemic Diseases• Writing

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*****Big Point*****Native American European

Exchange

• Corn• Beans• Squash• Turkey• Chili Pepper• Tomatillo• Sunflower

• Walnut• Acorn• Mesquite Bean• Agave• Pine Nut• Amaranth• Chocolate

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1800s Historical Dates• Mexican Independence 1821• Mexican-American War 1846• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848• Gadsden Purchase

1854*******

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Today’s TopicsAthapaskans in the Southwest

• Includes Navajo and Apache• Where they came from, when• Early life ways, history, modern

times

Focus on environment interactions– Leave most of the human issues

for other courses

Athapaskans in 1900

How to ConnectNorth and South?

Navajo

Apache

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• Linguistically‒Athapaskan

(Navajo and Apache)

• Migration started ~1000-1500 years ago•Glottochronolog

y• Crossed many

environments• SW arrival:1400s

Where and When

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Glottochronology• Study of language divergence• Language starts with a basic

vocabulary• People, languages split apart• Words replaced at a constant rate??• With time, a language splits into two• If replacement rate is known, date of

common language can be determined (not precise dates)

• Ex: Lune (L.) = Monday– Fr.: Lundi, Sp. = Lunes

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• East lobe: 1250 bp

– 1000 km long, thick

– May have triggered dispersal of 500+ people

• North lobe: 1890 bp

– Smaller, but still catastrophic

White River Ash

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The Athapaskan Entry:

3 Models

The Athapaskan Entry:

3 Models

•Late Entry High Plains Route (Post-1525)

•Early Entry via the Great Basin (Pre-1400)

•Early Entry via an Intermountain Route (A.D. 1400-1450)

Late Entry High Plains Hypothesis

Dinetah

Querechos

Black Hills

Black Hills: AD 1200

High Plains High Plains Drought?AD 1250-1450

Pecos Pueblo

Pecos—Ref byCoronado

Early Entry Great Basin Hypothesis

DinetahAD1400

AD 1000Promontory

Promontory Gray ceramics

Early Entry Mountain Route

DinetahAD1400

AD900??

AD1200??

Early sites (1541) ONLY in Dinetah

Navajo Oral Traditions

Navajo plant/animal names

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Ancestral Navajo Homeland• NW New Mexico, Dinétah• Farming, hunting, gathering, traiding, raiding

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Early Navajo Forked-pole Hogans

Forked-pole hogans enable tree-ring dating

Same structure type used til 20th century

Same site layoutEarliest Dates

mid-1500s

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Pueblitos

• Built 1710—1755

• Small masonry rooms with great views

• Conflict with Utes.

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Navajo Depopulation of Dinetah

“A severe drought which began in about 1730 had major impact on the Navajos by 1748… This drought and … appearto have caused the southern and western migration of NavajoPopulatuions and…their abandonment of the Dinetah”Marshall 1995:203; see also Reeve 1958:20

But did it??????

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Navajo Depopulation of Dinetah

1748

1749

Navajo Expansion out of Dinetah

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Dinetah

Navajo Nation (current)

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Navajo Transition to PastoralismAfter Dinetah is depopulatedExpansion West–San Juan Basin, etc.–

better grasslands--- Why????

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Long Walk to

Ft. Sumner (Bosque

Redondo)• 250-400

miles• East bank

of Pecos River

• Now a state monument

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Impossible Environmen

tal Conditions

• 9,000 people: mostly Navajo, some Apache

• Perhaps 10,000 acres, 4,000 farmable• Pecos water unpalatable (salt: 3-6 ppt)• Riparian woodland quickly depleted

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Unfortunate Timing Climatically• Early 1860s drought• Crops failed and/or plagued with pests• Thousands died

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• Sheep, goat numbers skyrocket and fluctuate

• Exceed carrying capacity (600,000), stripped vegetation

• 1930s: US enforced stock reduction– From ~1,300,000

to 400,000 sheep– Another disaster.

Return to Pastoralism

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Carrying Capacity• Maximum stocking rate

possible while maintaining range resources– How many sheep can

graze on this land• How to determine?

– Measure forage production: lbs./year•ac

– Measure nutritional demand: lbs./year•animal

– Divide production/demand = # animals/ac

• Can be applied to all species, at all scales.

acre

animals10

.lb10

yearanimal

yearacre

.lb100

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• WesternApache: – Former

Mogolloncountry

• Lifeways:– Hunting– Gathering– Farming

• Ethnographic case study (Archaic?).

Current W. Apache lands

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Hunters and Gatherers

• Gathering– Agave– Mesquite– Cactus Fruits– Grass Seeds– Pine Nuts

• Hunting– Deer– Antelope– Rabbits– Squirrels– Rodents– Birds

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Apache Wikiup: Minimalist Housing

•Pole frame, hide and vegetation covering

• Allowed seasonal migration: hunting, gathering

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Novel Twist on Apache Farming

• Late spring planting• When corn 1.5 feet tall (before monsoons):

– Water final time, then leave– Gather acorns, nuts, etc.

• Send someone back to see if corn made it• Come back in fall to harvest• Dubbed “casual farming”• Might be recent analog to late Archaic.

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Agave Harvest

• Could be collected most of the year

• Good for many food items

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Peeled Trees• Strip off bark• Eat inner

bark cambium

• Emergency food vs. consistent behavior?

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• Increment core the tree• Crossdate pre-scar ring growth• Upper Gila example: six peelings date

to 1865, an emergency year (US Army)

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Athapaskan Summary• Migration from

North• 1400s arrival?• Depopulation NOT

Environmental• Transition to

Pastoralism NOT Environmental

• Strategic Subsistence Systems