History & Culture

Stronghold with Sleeping Ute Mountain in the background.

Stephen Bridgehouse

Deep, Enduring Connections to Land

The NPS acknowledges, with respect, that Native people have been successful stewards of the land within the park since time immemorial. The NPS understands that the monument is located within the ancestral and traditional homeland of the:

Pueblo of Acoma
Pueblo de Cochita
Hopi Tribe
Pueblo of Isleta
Pueblo of Jemez
Jicarilla Apache Nation
Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians
Pueblo of Laguna
Pueblo of Nambé
Navajo Nation
Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo
Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah
Picuris Pueblo
Pueblo of Pojoaque
Pueblo of San Felipe
Pueblo of San Ildefonso
San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe
Pueblo of Sandia
Pueblo of Santa Ana
Santa Clara Pueblo
Santo Domingo Pueblo
Southern Ute Indian Tribe
Taos Pueblo
Pueblo of Tesuque
Ute Indian Tribe
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
White Mesa Ute Tribe
Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo
Pueblo of Zia
Zuni Tribe

 

Human Prehistory

Archeological evidence shows that people lived at Hovenweep at least 10,000 years ago. The earliest people were nomadic Paleoindians who visited the Cajon Mesa to gather food and hunt game. These people used the area for centuries, following the seasonal weather patterns.

Ancestral Puebloans

The towers of Hovenweep were built by ancestral Puebloans, a farming culture that occupied the Four Corners area from about 500 to 1300 CE (common era). Similarities in architecture, masonry, and pottery styles indicate that the people of Hovenweep were closely associated with groups living at Mesa Verde and other nearby sites.

As soon as the ancestral Puebloans started cultivating crops, they had to learn to cope with drought. They carefully selected drought-resistant, north-facing slopes for their fields; built terraces and checkdams to protect the soil; and stored extra food for dry years. They also performed ceremonies designed to maintain the natural cycles of rainfall.

In the late 1100s and early 1200s, drought persisted. Tribal consultants from some descendant communities indicate that even drought-resistant farms were failing, and Hovenweep was built to help. Some structures here cluster around springs. These may have been spaces to send prayers to the sea for moisture. Other strucutres tower above the canyon rims. These may have been spaces to look toward the mountains and pray for rain. Portholes, petroglyphs, and whole structures are aligned in interesting ways with the movement of the sun. Details like these may have helped time seasonal ceremonies.

Migration

Despite the careful measures to rebalance the climate, drought continued. At the same time, new groups were moving into the Four Corners region, intensifying the human impact on the landscape. Vibrant new communities were growing in the Little Colorado River Basin and along the Rio Grande. For many reasons, over several generations, the ancestral Pueblo people followed their traditional cultural practice of migration to build new homes south of Hovenweep. Although they no longer live within the national monument, today's Pueblo, Zuni, and Hopi people are the descendants of the ancestral Pueblo culture and consider Hovenweep as part of their heritage. They continue to visit Hovenweep and other evidence of their ancestors throughout the Southwest.

European History

Native people knew the location and importance of Hovenweep since its construction, but the first written reports by European explorers came in 1854, when W. D. Huntington led a Mormon expedition into southeast Utah. The name "Hovenweep" is a Paiute/Ute word meaning "Deserted Valley." Pioneer photographer William Henry Jackson adopted this name in 1874. We still use the name "Hovenweep" today, although we now know that Native people consider these canyons dwelling places of their ancestors and important sites for prayer. They are not deserted. Between 1917 and 1918, J.W. Fewkes of the Smithsonian Institution surveyed the area and recommended the structures be protected. On March 2, 1923, President Warren G. Harding proclaimed Hovenweep a unit of the National Park System.