From about 1100 to 1400 A.D., various clans of the Hopi people migrated from Central America to present-day Arizona in several waves. The three mesas that form the core of the Hopi homeland today were inhabited very early. Many groups settled for a time in other areas before eventually reaching the three mesa area. One group of settlements that was a temporary home for the Hopi was in the floodplain of the Little Colorado River in a place called Homolovi, meaning "place of little hills," near Winslow Arizona. There are four major dwelling groups there that housed hundreds of people around 1400 A.D. Unfortunately, these sites were subject to extensive looting by people looking for pottery to sell. The Hopi people and the state of Arizona joined forces in establishing Homolovi State Park to help preserve these sites.
Today, this state park continues to promote archealogical research at more than 200 sites in the parks 4,000 acres and provides a small museum, a campground, and activities that promote education about the people who lived here and what they left behind. There are two major sites that are open for visitors to explore, Homolovi I and Homolovi II. While these sites once included over one thousand dwelling structures each, today there is little visible trace of them. The two sites convey a sense of the scale of these villages, but little remains of the actual structures. The best features are an open kiva in Homolovi II and the very rich scattering of pottery shards at both sites.
Homolovi State Park does not offer dramatic ruins like other protected sites in the southwest, but the park is obviously a labor of love for the park employees (some of whom have worked at the park since its inception), and it tells an important story in an uncrowded environment. The campground is excellent and makes a great base camp for exploring the areas attraction like the Meteor Crater, Winslow's historic Route 66 sites, and the Hopi reservation to the north.
Comments
Sign In and share them.