Strong, Women, Tough Children and Hard Times: Sustainability on the Hopi Mesas
(University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
Leading into AD 1000, small hamlet-styled communities were scattered across the plateau region of northeastern Arizona. Unlike many of the other U.S. tribes who were relocated and decimated during the genocides of the colonial period, the Hopi people have lived in situ in the region of Black Mesa for thousands of years. Initially analyzed by Martin and colleagues (1991), a number of unusual findings were documented that have profound relevance for today. Almost every demographic and medical finding from analysis of the ancestor’s human remains revealed patterns in stark opposition to findings from contemporaries and later Pueblo people living throughout the Southwest circa AD 1000–1450. The ancestor’s remains reveal agricultural people in a very marginal desert environment who were relatively healthy. Maize for these people did not cause nutritional problems as reported for other groups. The Black Mesa people (n=180) show no signs of violence, inter-personal strife or trauma. This contrasts with notions of endemic warfare that has been written about for the region. Although making it through infancy posed challenges, childhood illness and death was far below expectations. Lastly, there was a large segment of elderly, suggesting many individuals lived far beyond the mean age at death normally presented for desert agriculturalists. Ongoing strategies of seasonal mobility, maintaining a diverse diet and political autonomy may have protected the people of Black Mesa in ways not possible in the larger communities. These cultural systems buffered the Black Mesa inhabitants, which allowed them to maintain their sustainable and communal lifestyles.