Modeling Ancestral Hopi Agricultural Landscapes: Applying Ethnography to Archaeological Interpretations

Abstract

In this thesis, historic Hopi ethnographic data are employed to model ancestral Hopi agricultural land use through the lens of archaeological landscape theory. Emphasizing the interconnectedness of landmarks--loci of discrete interactions between humans and the land--within networked cultural landscapes, archaeological landscape theory provides a unique perspective from which to examine overlapping planes of historic and prehistoric land use.Drawing on ethnographic accounts, a model is constructed that integrates the physical, social organizational, ritual/ceremonial, and traditional history dimensions of historic Hopi agricultural land use. Durable material correlates of agricultural land use are proposed on the basis of ethnographic documentation. This holistic model is applied to archaeological data from the Homol'ovi Ruins State Park (HRSP), northeastern Arizona. The integrative model produced herein allows for the interpretation of relationships between archaeological features representing different land use behaviors and the conceptualization of linkages between landmarks in the ancestral Hopi agricultural landscape.