ANT 351 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Santa Fe, New Mexico, Sinagua, Hohokam
The Legacy of Ancient Southwestern Cultures
People
-People are the first and most important legacy of the ancient cultures of the SW
-All contemporary Native American groups in the Southwest have connections with
ancient cultures, either through direct descent or religious values that recognize the
sacred nature of ancient lives and places
-In pop culture, the abandonment of ancient sites and regions is often presented as
a great mystery
oThe mystery of the disappearing âAnasaziâ is featured in everything from
archaeological parks to interpretive books sold in U.S. National Parks
oNot really a mystery
oThe Anasazi did not disappear, nor did the Hohokam, the Mogollon, the Salado,
the Sinagua, the people of Chaco, and many more ancient cultures
othe thread of continuity between the past and the present was never broken
-Modern Native Americans in the Southwest belong to more than 50 Federally
recognized Indian tribes and number more than 500,000 people
Crops and Food
-Native American contributions to the worldâs food supply are legion
-Maize is one of the worldâs most important food crops
-Southwestern crops, passed along since ancient times, constitute a major source of
genetic diversity and a hedge against catastrophic crop failures due to disease or genetic
mutation
-Each year the U.S. Department of Agriculture grows varieties of Native Southwestern
crops to provide a genetic bank that can be called upon to improve or, if needed, rescue
foods that make up an important part of the worldâs food supply
-thousands of years of Native American selective breeding of maize, beans, squash, and
cotton serve us well today in the form of genetic insurance
-The list of Southwestern Native foods that we enjoy today is very long and distinguished
oBeans, corn, squash are of the everyday variety
-Methods of food preparation also come down to us through time
-the tortilla, a form of processing corn that dates to the late 1200s if not earlier
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