Anthro 316
Dr. Bowser
06/02/2017
Essay 1: Hopi Society
It is the goal of archaeology to gain as much insight into a past culture, as possible, with
the use of professional and cooperative digging (Society for American Archaeology). However,
the researcher’s job becomes even more difficult when the ancestors of the past society are still
alive today. In the case of the Hopi people, whose story is outlined in the article by
Kuwanwiswma and Ferguson (2004), much collaboration was necessary to provide the
archaeologists with the information they were trying to find, and the Hopi people with respect for
their different views on these past ancestral sites, places ancestors of the Hopi once lived.
Cooperation is especially needed with Aboriginal Americans, who hold a distinct relationship
with the land that is now called North America (Oswalt 2009) – archaeologists must have special
permission and provide decent reasoning for conducting digs in these areas. In the eyes of
anthropologists, archaeological sites are geographical areas that can consist of artifacts,
buildings, fossils, middens, and so on. But to the Hopi, these sites are areas, that were once and
still are, connected to other regions of importance.
The Hopi people find most important, the long migration that their anscestors carried out,
from the place of origin, to Tuuwanasavi (earth center). These landscapes are associated with
deities, rivers, springs, shrines, historical events, and itaakuku (our footprints). One of the
instructions provided by their deity, was to make footprints along the way, to ensure fulfillment
Dr. Bowser
06/02/2017
Essay 1: Hopi Society
It is the goal of archaeology to gain as much insight into a past culture, as possible, with
the use of professional and cooperative digging (Society for American Archaeology). However,
the researcher’s job becomes even more difficult when the ancestors of the past society are still
alive today. In the case of the Hopi people, whose story is outlined in the article by
Kuwanwiswma and Ferguson (2004), much collaboration was necessary to provide the
archaeologists with the information they were trying to find, and the Hopi people with respect for
their different views on these past ancestral sites, places ancestors of the Hopi once lived.
Cooperation is especially needed with Aboriginal Americans, who hold a distinct relationship
with the land that is now called North America (Oswalt 2009) – archaeologists must have special
permission and provide decent reasoning for conducting digs in these areas. In the eyes of
anthropologists, archaeological sites are geographical areas that can consist of artifacts,
buildings, fossils, middens, and so on. But to the Hopi, these sites are areas, that were once and
still are, connected to other regions of importance.
The Hopi people find most important, the long migration that their anscestors carried out,
from the place of origin, to Tuuwanasavi (earth center). These landscapes are associated with
deities, rivers, springs, shrines, historical events, and itaakuku (our footprints). One of the
instructions provided by their deity, was to make footprints along the way, to ensure fulfillment
