Ridge Ruin was a small and seemingly insignificant masonry house of approximately twenty-five rooms located at the edge of a wooded valley, twenty-five miles east of Flagstaff, Arizona. The ruin dates to the Pueblo III time frame and the actual burial dates to the first quarter of the 12th century. Until 1941, this area was disregarded by archaeologists with more research centered on the larger, more spectacular sites such as Pueblo Bonito or Mesa Verde. Then the discovery of the burial of a significant personage, probably a magician, established the importance of this neglected ruin. The man’s burial was accompanied by an amazing collection of ceremonial paraphernalia, including some of the best turquoise beads ever unearthed, stone and shell beads, ornaments and pottery of the highest quality, ceremonial pigments, and ritual sticks.
Drawing of ceremonial sticks found buried with the magician
The vast wealth of objects that accompanied this lone man on his journey to the afterlife made this burial fascinating and unusual. Pueblo religious concepts do not encourage the accumulation of great personal wealth. It was immediately obvious that here was a man of great ceremonial status. He was garbed ritually from head to toe with beads of turquoise, shell and stone, although only small fragments of his garments remained.
turquoise from many different sources in the Southwest. Note the
use of free form shell beads and heishi. Excellent example of the
type of turquoise beads that would have been part of the magician's
burial goods.
Hopi Indian informants were called to the site before any interpretation was attempted. All agreed that the objects found were definitely ritualistic in purpose. Each informant felt they were connected to a ceremony identified with ancient Hopi spiritual observances. Questioned separately, they all agreed it was the same ceremony, although referring to it by different names. This is not conflicting testimony because each of the three Hopi mesas (and often different villages on the same mesa) has a slightly different name and variations for the timeless ceremonies that have been passed down by their ancestors.
1500 turquoise pieces, possibly used as an arm band
Most conclusive in establishing the accuracy of their testimony was the fact that when an informant was shown only part of the objects, he often described with accuracy the other items that should have been (and were) with it. A man from the Hopi village of Shungopovi flatly stated that there should have been a club-like object with serrated edges, a double horn object and a beaded cap with a point on the top to accompany a painted ceremonial stick. These items were later found. The man also suggested that the fraternity which developed the ceremony was made up of people from the Spider and Bluebird Clans.
The bear fetish is a symbol of strength and courage.
A man from Mishongnovi, another Hopi village, said that the ceremony might be called ‘Moochiwimi’ or ‘Nasot Wimi,’ meaning to swallow sticks. It was his theory that members were selected from the Skeleton and Coyote Clans, although as generations progressed and certain clans became decimated, others were drawn in to perpetuate the ceremony. He described the paraphernalia in specific detail without first seeing it and said that the complete and original ceremony was probably last performed about 1890. It was a form of witchcraft which was supposed to strengthen the magician and his clan. Hence the war leader in a foray was usually chosen from this group. They were represented by strong animals such as the bear and the lion.
The Mountain Lion, much revered for its stealth, cunning and
prowess. It is an important Zuni fetish. Since antiquity
Southwestern Indians have sought to harness its spirit and
power for ceremonial purposes.
A set of eight mountain lion claws and two canine teeth, painted and drilled as beads, were found with the magician. It is believed that men from this witchcraft group could change themselves into these animals or call upon them for aid. For this reason it was important to possess beads made from the teeth of fierce animals. It greatly aided a man’s ceremonial power and status. They also had songs as a significant part of their ritual which, together with the beads made from teeth and claw, called forth the power of these animals for the magician’s use.
Old Hopi village where descendants of the Magician
continued to practice the ceremonial life passed down
to them by the ancient people of Ridge House
An informant from Old Oraibi, a village on the Hopi’s Third Mesa and the oldest continually established town in North America, said the magician would be called ‘ka-leh-ta-ka’ since he was obviously the leader due to the richness and ceremonial significance of his burial. He also described the objects used in the ceremony and defined it as a sort of witchcraft in which a sleight-of-hand was undertaken. Together with all the other Hopi informants he agreed that the use for the carved and painted sticks was similar to a sword in the sword-swallowing act. The painted end of the stick was forced down the throat so that just the ornamented end projected from the mouth.
turquoise, jet and shell. Made in 1960 by Anna Marie
Coriz at Pueblo Santo Domingo. Fine example of the
sustaining influence of ceremonial objects found at Ridge
Ruin and Pueblo Bonito on contemporary Native American
artists.
The man from Shungopovi voluntarily asked if the find was not located in the vicinity of Canyon Diablo. When he was informed that it was from a very small pueblo ruin only about eighteen miles west of Canyon Diablo, he was greatly moved and insisted that people of this ceremony belonged to clans having the right to gather eagles from nests in the vicinity of the canyon. This is probably correct because the Hopis to this day still practice some version of this ceremony and understand it quite accurately. So many aspects of this burial point to the Hopis that it has been tentatively concluded that this magician and his people were some of the ancestors who contributed to the religious and cultural development of the Hopis. With the excavation and study of this burial with its connecting ceremony, it’s been theorized that this ritual has the longest history (800 years with no major change in paraphernalia) of any ceremony known to have existed among Native Americans in the Southwest.
The burial yielded 613 separately catalogued objects that were of great archaeological value because they were all in use at the same time by the same people. They illustrated not only the crafts produced in that place, but the range of trade contacts these people had. There were six distinct pottery types different from what this culture made, but derived from geographically close cultures. Also the appearance of Pacific Coast shell beads indicates the far-reaching trade routes these people traveled.
The principle objects identified in the burial are as follows:
- A bracelet of turquoise beads
- Turquoise animal heads
- Nose plug
- Ear pendant beads
- Large decorated bone awl
- Shell on stick
- Painted wood hand on stick
- Obsidian knife blade
- Beaded head cover
- Sticks painted blue
- Carved painted stick
- Stick painted red
- Loop of conus shell beads (possibly held in hand)
- Loop of conus shell beads (possibly worn around the knees)
- String of conus shell beads (possibly worn from waist, dangling down the legs)
- Three black-on-white seed bowls
- Rim of large shell
- Two large knife blades
- Two cutout shell pendant beads in seed bowls
- Mass of fine iron crystals on shell fragments
- Scattered mass of copper ore
- Fragments of painted basket
- Turquoise mosaic basket
- Abalone shell
- Three marine shells nested together
- Bird-shaped bracelet ornament of shell and turquoise inlay
- Pendant bead of shell and turquoise
- Sunset red pitcher
- Two Tusayan polychrome bowls
- Walnut black-on-white bowls
- Fragments of a painted basket
- Coiled basket
- Reeds filled with blue paint
- Small skin sacks filled with red paint
- Blue paint in a gourd
- Fragments of hematite paint
- Teeth and claw beads of a mountain lion
- Mass of hair
- Mass of string or yarn
- Small black-on-white bowl
- Bird-shaped mosaic
- Ear-shaped mosaic
- Round mosaic
- Shell lizard
- Horn-shaped object of shell inlay
- Stick with turquoise inlay
- Lignite button
- Stick with carved deer foot end
- Three carved sticks: carved hand, carved deer foot, carved non-objective design
- Dogoszhi black-on-white bowl
- Black-on-white bowl
- Sunset red jar
- Two stone pendant beads painted green
The mosaic pendant beads were bound together or set in lac, an exudation of the lac insect and basis for materials such as shellac or sealing wax. This burial provides the first evidence of such material being used for inlay in prehistoric America. This lac was derived from plants which host the lac insect such as creosote bushes (Larrea Mexicana) and the shrub, Coursetia Glandulosa, that do not grow in northern Arizona and were probably traded from people living in a canyon north of Phoenix near Camelback Mountain, where the plants abound. Besides lac, there is evidence of the use of unidentified organic plastic and asphalt in its natural form.
Drawing of the ornaments found in the magician's burial
In this burial a large number of beads and ornaments were made totally or partially from turquoise of such a high quality and pure blue color that experts have identified it as coming from the Los Cerillos mine in New Mexico. A pair of turquoise pendant beads used for earrings was found on either side of the head, close to the original wearing position. They are flat, circular discs of turquoise with small shell discs attached with lac to the center of each bead. An abundance of stone beads were present in the burial, some closely identified with the body and others apparently used for ceremonial occasions. Many turquoise beads of the finest quality were found. An individual group of seventy-three large turquoise beads were found worn as a bracelet and still intact on the skeleton. Screening operations later yielded more turquoise beads. Eventually archaeologists found a string of 107 perfectly formed turquoise beads. There were also two unusual turquoise beads that roughly suggest the shape of Egyptian scarabs. These were undoubtedly amulets or magic charms.
A cap formed much like a skull cap was still intact on the skull. The beads were made of both shell and stone with holes so minute that even the smallest beading needle could not pass through. When strung, these beads averaged twenty-one to the inch. They were constructed of a finely-grained grey to blackish-colored stone and number more than 3600 beads. In the cap itself they were worked in a manner alternating dark stone and white shell.
Reconstruction of the magician's head based on skeletal remains
Close to the magician’s hand were two bead-charm bracelets which illustrate the potency and magical powers this culture invested in beads. They are exactly alike and consist of nine charms on each bracelet bound by a cord that had disintegrated. One of these charms is a nose formed from an unidentified plastic and another of black stone is the back of the head and base of the neck. The rest are definitely animal heads, most resembling grasshopper.
The shell pendant beads are of two types: those fashioned very simply and only drilled for suspension or others more elaborately cut in unusual designs. All bear an undeniable similarity to ornaments and beads used on the Pacific Coast. The shells were acquired through trade, but it cannot definitely be established who did the actual designing on very simple specimens. They could have come from California already cut out or else they could have had the design work applied in Arizona. Shells that incorporate inlay techniques were definitely made Ridge Ruin Pueblo.
Note: Information and drawings in this blog were found in a monograph by John C. McGregor, an archaeologist at the Museum of Northern Arizona. It was first published in the proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Volume 86, No. 2, February 1943. Museum of Northern Arizona is dedicated to preserving the cultures and environment of Native Americans in Northern Arizona. It is an important resource in our community and greatly deserving of your support.
Next Blog: Navajo Silversmithing and the Origin of the Squashblossom Necklace will appear sometime after the first of October. I'm off on a great walkabout to New Mexico and Colorado in search of more interesting bead lore.
Next Blog: Navajo Silversmithing and the Origin of the Squashblossom Necklace will appear sometime after the first of October. I'm off on a great walkabout to New Mexico and Colorado in search of more interesting bead lore.
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