Tag: Hohokam

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Do-Gooders

“If you want to know America–if you want to see it for what it was and what it is–you need to look at Indian history and at the Indian present.”

“It has always bothered me that the very idea of paying attention to or knowing Indian history is tinged with the soft compassion of the do-gooder, as a kind of voluntary public service.”

David Treuer

in The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

Both of these quotes are from the epilogue of this very good book. Can both be true?

The painting is by Michael Hampshire and has been removed from public view at S’edev Va’aki.

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Shame on Arizona

On June 2, 1924 American Indians were granted full citizenship by an act of the US Congress.
It wasn’t until 1948 that Arizona allowed Indians to vote.

From The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer

An embarrassed “no comment” is all I can muster. For 24 years Arizona delayed and obfuscated. Shame.

The question we need to ask is: What are we doing today that a hundred years from now will appear so awful?

The photo is of some petroglyphs on Shaw Butte in north central Phoenix.

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New Postcard

The Indian Market at S’edav Va’aki is on December 9 and 10, 2023. Here are four reasons you should attend:

-Purchase unique gifts from the creators in the market and in the updated gift shop.

-Meet Native American craftspeople.

-See the new huge Mural by Breeze

-Learn how to pronounce S’edav Va’aki. I’ll be around to teach you.

-Bonus reason: Be one of the first to buy the new postcards as shown above.

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S’edav Va’aki

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet

The Pueblo Grande Museum has changed its name to S’edav Va’aki.

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Tempe Archeology

In Tempe they are building a new bike path along the old spur railroad track that paralleled Eighth Street. Just east of Rural Road they discovered the site of an ancient Hohokum structure. It is a bigger house than a pit house with wide foundations that indicated that it was multiple stories high. Other evidence led the Archeology team to conclude that it was not a mound.

One of the very coolest discoveries was footprints of the people who built one of the floors circa 1300.

A heel print
Toe prints

Being able to see this discovery before it is carefully covered up was thrilling. The work was conducted by the consulting firm Logan Simpson and the presenter Mark Hackbarth did a really terrific job of explaining what we were seeing.

Mark standing in the cross section of a nearby Hohokam built irrigation canal.

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Ask Me a Question

If you visit the Pueblo Grande Museum when I am staffing the Artifact Cart you are required to “Ask me a Question.” Yesterday the best question was: “Why didn’t they just move somewhere nicer.”
I am the Artifact on the Artifact Cart. You can touch a thousand year old axe head and hear me tell why their pots had round bottoms.