Closure and Dedication Practices in the Homol’ovi Settlement Cluster, Northeastern Arizona

Abstract

This paper explores material patterns of structure and village closure among several villages in the Homol’ovi Settlement Cluster on the Little Colorado River in northeastern Arizona, with special emphasis on Chevelon Pueblo. Excavations in nearly 200 structures within the cluster reveal a variety of closure practices, including burial of floors and floor features, structural burning, and object placement. It is argued that these patterns are part of a long Pueblo tradition of closure practices used, not to sever connections with a space, community, or landscape, but to continue material connections to these places. Some indications of dedication practices for plazas and features were uncovered at Homol’ovi I and will be discussed as part of broader memory-making practices within the community. Finally, a case will be made that the burning of Chevelon Pueblo may have been a purposeful act of forgetting.

Ritual Closure: Rites De Passage and Apotropaic Magic in an Animate World

“…Adams ( 2016 ), in his review of ritual closure evidence of the Homol’ovi Pueblos, near Winslow Arizona, emphasizes that such activities often involve a number of sacrifices (e.g., corn, pottery, projectile points, manos) placed in the buried and burned layers of structures. He argues that these deposits offer insights into the participation of segments of the community (e.g., sodality groups, women, households).…”

“…Shell objects offer two helpful performance characteristics: a solid material with water (potent animacy) sympathies and a form that transports easily. Marine shell was widely preferred over the freshwater varieties due to their size, saltwater origin, and distant location (but see Adams, 2016 ). As a result, the power of marine shell, while perhaps enhanced by manufacture, does not necessarily require elaborate working to become valuable (see Claassen, 1998 , 2010 ).…”

Gendered Places and Depositional Histories: Reconstructing a Menstrual Lodge in the Interior Northwest

“…After the structure burned, a sediment with distinct properties was placed atop the structure, effectively capping and ending the events that took place therein. Deliberate structural burning with final depositional events have been recorded among Southwest pithouses and kivas (e.g., Adams 2017; Stevanović 1997; Van Keuren and Roos 2013). In these structures, fire was used to transition places between uses, and the act of intentionally burning architecture is considered an aspect of purposeful closure and abandonment.…”

Miniature in Everything but Meaning: A Contextual Analysis of Miniature Vessels at Homol'ovi I

“…The Homol'ovi Research Program, directed by E. Charles Adams, excavated 70 structures and several extramural areas at Homol'ovi I. Excavations of the site focused on the detailed recording of depositional processes. This methodology, and the development of a detailed chronology, have made the Homol'ovi Settlement Cluster an important case study for research focused on deposition and room closure—“a suite of practices with material manifestations that ends the occupation of a structure or settlement with the added intent of either remembering or forgetting associated people, groups, or events” (Adams 2016a:43; see also Adams 2002; Adams and LaMotta 2006; Schiffer 1987; Walker 1995). These data have been used to examine important depositional trends throughout the village, laying the groundwork on which this research builds (e.g., Adams 2016a, 2016b; Adams and Fladd 2017; Hedquist 2016; Miljour 2016).…”

“…This methodology, and the development of a detailed chronology, have made the Homol'ovi Settlement Cluster an important case study for research focused on deposition and room closure—“a suite of practices with material manifestations that ends the occupation of a structure or settlement with the added intent of either remembering or forgetting associated people, groups, or events” (Adams 2016a:43; see also Adams 2002; Adams and LaMotta 2006; Schiffer 1987; Walker 1995). These data have been used to examine important depositional trends throughout the village, laying the groundwork on which this research builds (e.g., Adams 2016a, 2016b; Adams and Fladd 2017; Hedquist 2016; Miljour 2016). The current analysis of the construction and deposition of miniature vessels at Homol'ovi I provides important evidence about the social role of this ceramic form, while also furthering the detailed understanding of the construction, use, and closure of this large pueblo.…”