Awatovi Ruins

Awatovi Ruins
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Scene at the ruins in 1937
Nearest city	Keams Canyon, Arizona
Built	1200
NRHP reference No.	66000187
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966
Designated NHL	July 19, 1964

Awatovi Ruins is a National Historic Landmark in Navajo County, Arizona, United States, designated in 1964. In 1540, Coronado's men visited this village. What remains are the ruins of a five hundred year old pueblo. There are also ruins from a Spanish mission built in the 1600s. It is within the bounds of the Hopi Indian Reservation.

In the 1930s, Hopi artist Fred Kabotie was commissioned by the Peabody Museum to reproduce the prehistoric murals found during the excavation of the Awatovi Ruins.

History

Awatovi was the first of the Hopi villages to be visited and conquered by the Spanish. In the early 16th century AD, Awatovi was one of the largest and most important of the villages. It had already been in existence for about 450 years. The first European visitor, in 1540, was Pedro de Tovar, dispatched by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado to the Hopi villages a week after the capture of Hawikuh. A skirmish occurred when de Tovar arrived, but the inhabitants quickly sued for peace and offered presents of cloth, skins, turquoise, and maize. The five remaining Hopi pueblos then offered fealty to the King of Spain.

The Spanish did not visit Hopi again until 1583, when the Antonio de Espejo expedition spent several days at the Hopi villages before turning southwest to the Verde Valley. Juan de Oñate, in 1598, found the Hopis ready to capitulate formally to the King of Spain. Oñate visited the pueblos again in 1605, and Captain Gerónimo Marquez in 1614, but not until 1629 did the Spanish make any substantial missionary effort among the Hopis.

From then until the Pueblo revolt of 1680, Awatovi had little contact with the Spanish military and no direct contact with the Spanish settlements. The Hopis expected reprisals for participating in the 1680 rebellion, but none came. When Diego de Vargas, the reconqueror, arrived in 1692, the Hopis reswore their allegiance to Spain, and he departed without incident.

Near the end of 1700, the extreme hostility of most Hopis to Christian converts at Awatovi led to the destruction of the pueblo. The attackers killed all the men at Awatovi, and scattered the women and children among the other villages. The site was never reoccupied.

Extensive archeological excavations were conducted at Awatovi by J. O. Brew of the Peabody Museum in the 1930s. Brew's extensive artifact collections and archives are held at the Peabody Museum. Most of his excavations have been backfilled.

Further reading

• Watson Smith, Kiva Mural Decorations at Awatovi and Kawaika-a, with a Survey of Other Wall Paintings in the Pueblo Southwest, Papers of the Peabody Museum, 2006 reprint ISBN 9780873651264

• Hester A. Davis ,Remembering Awatovi: The Story of an Archaeological Expedition in Northern Arizona, 1935-1939, Peabody Museum Monographs. 2008 reprint ISBN 978-0873659116

External links

• Awatovi Black-on-yellow Ladle at Arizona State Museum