DOI: 10.31038/GEMS.2024641

Abstract

This is an ethnological analysis of six unique geology reserves (or geoparks) each being the center of a larger geological landscape (or geoscape). Each park has been given special historical preservation status in the United States because of its cultural meanings to Native Americans and its special geological features. Ethnographic studies were funded to understand the special cultural connections between individual geological areas and cultural a more general ethnological perspective on such heritage places. The authors of this analysis participated in the ethnographic study of four of the six affiliated Native Americans. This analysis further compares these findings, drawing out four themes common across the case studies and thus producing geoparks.

Keywords

Landscapes of origin, Geoparks, Geoscapes, Pilgrimage, North American, Native American sacred areas

Background

The most current understanding of the UNESCO preference for using geology heritage terms like geoparks for research and management is discussed in a special issue of the journal Land entitled Geoparks, Geotrails, and Geotourism—Linking Geology, Geoheritage, and Geoeducation that was edited by Margaret Brocx and Vic Semeniuk [1]. They summarize the worldwide movement towards using these concepts to better understand heritage places that involve a number of geoparks and geotrails that have been established, e.g., UNESCO. Global Geoparks where the geology, geotours, and local economy are linked for the well-being of the local people and operate under the auspices of UNESCO, and National or State-oriented geoparks/geotrails where the geology is identified as significant and preserved in conservation estates and utilized for tours, education, and other commercial purposes. Well-designed and organized geoparks/geotrails provide valuable sites for geoeducation, including suitable localities for collecting minerals and fossils, and all types of geoparks/geotrails can function for geotourism. Geotours in geoparks/geotrails provide excellent opportunity for introducing the public and students to the wealth of information and history that the Earth has to offer and professional geologists to the diversity of Earth Science globally. This analysis contributes to our understanding of the UNESCO use of geoparks by demonstrating how Effigy Mounds National Monument (NM) and its surrounding ceremonial landscape fits into a broader discussion of multi-ethnic [Ethnicity is the social organization of cultural difference (Barth 1969). We use ethnic groups here to denote socially defined subdivisions of a common cultural heritage. Ethnic group membership tends to be organized by a number of boundary mechanisms, which may include shared religious practices, ancestry and descent, origin stories, geographies of and attachments to place, and language] ceremonial centers also known here as Landscapes of Origin and geoscapes. The purpose of this ethnological analysis is to show that, while Effigy Mounds has its own unique functions and connections, it parallels other ceremonial centers discussed in this analysis. The six case studies presented here were selected to demonstrate how some time-keeping elements using geological features, healing places, and renewal ceremonial locations are comparable with other heritage geoparks. In a book entitled Landscapes of Origin in the Americas: Creation Narratives Linking Ancient Places and Present Communities, Jessica Christie (2009) [2] assembled nine case studies of how Native American ethnic groups understand, use, and are attached to origin places. The cases are from North, Central, and South America. The organizing thesis of her book is that Creation is a complex concept which variously can mean where we came into previous worlds, where we came into the current world, or where we were culturally recreated as a result of some monumental event.

All Creation events discussed here, and thus their recounting through time, are tied totopographic places and, often, multiple geological features. Normally these places are topographically spectacular—the junctions of large rivers, a salt deposit in the caldera of a massive volcano, a mountain in a flat terrain, or the outcropping of a special mineral for making ceremonial pipes. Landscape of Origin naturally has a destination area, which is the focus of various kinds of ceremonies such as those associated with world balancing and conflict resolution activities, individual vision quests, and spiritual healing. At the center of the destination there often are a series of sequential use protocols which we have termed local ceremonial landscapes [4,5]. The journey to the destination center typically occurs along well established pilgrimage trails, which in turn have functionally special locations for ceremony (Grassy pubs). This ethnological analysis helps us to understand Effigy Mounds by placing it in a wider Native American heritage geoscape frame.

Landscapes of Origin

Tribal representatives describe Effigy Mounds [Effigy Mounds is used in this article instead of the acronym Effigy Mounds NM in order to talk about not only the monument lands but also the surrounding immediate landscape. The distinction upholds Native American uses shared during ethnographic interviews] as a large ceremonial center, which is located in an extensive, functionally integrated cultural landscape, called here a Landscape of Origin. The Effigy Mounds center and landscape have been used by many different Native American groups for thousands of years. Native American people have long maintained connections to Effigy Mounds through ceremonial activity and their origin and creation stories. Effigy Mounds also has been understood as an area free from inter-ethnic conflict; thus all culturally associated tribes have an inherent right to visit for ceremonial activities and conflict is not allowed in this sacred space. With these core understandings, it is important to place Effigy Mounds into a broader discussion of multi-ethnic ceremonial centers (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Map Placing the Five Multi-Ethnic Ceremonial Areas

This essay describes and compares six (6) Native American Landscapes of Origin including Effigy Mounts, in North America. The five other cases are (1) Pipestone National Monument (Pipestone), (2) Medicine Wheel/Medicine Mountain National Historic Landmark (Medicine Mountain), (3) the Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary (Zuni Salt Lake), (4) Chaco Culture National Historical Park (Chaco), and (5) Sugarloaf /Gold Strike Canyon (Sugarloaf Mountain) (Figure 2.1). The patterns or elements of these well-known Native American geoparks and geoscapes are used to situate Effigy Mounds as a ceremonial center.

Effigy Mounds

In the past, a number of Native American groups visited places located within the monument boundaries and the surrounding landscape for a variety of reasons, such as holding ceremony, burying their dead, and maintaining the mounds (Figure 2). While at this ceremonial center, interactions between the diverse groups were peaceful, due to the shared value of the mounds as a neutral zone for ceremonial use (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Landscape and Viewscape from the Marching Bear Group

Howey, whose work focused on mound groups in northern Michigan, suggests that mound groups may have served as ceremonial areas that build on pan-residential interaction and trade [6]. She argues that embedding these centers in the sacred allows members of communities from separate territories to meet and exchange goods where liturgical order ensures moral behavior, therefore public ritual restrains individual competition or hostility [6]. In short, the political functions of public ritual were just as important as the religious functions. These mounds were centered in shared ritual that brought communities from great distances. These relationships strengthened social bonds between territorially distinct groups and added group interdependencies through economic specialization. Building upon his research on mounds in South America, Dillehay [7] notes that once monuments are engaged in public ritual, they organize people’s responses and patterns of interaction. Similar cultural use patterns occurred along the Upper Mississippi River watershed. Tribal representatives maintained that these mounds served as a gathering place for the celebration of the solstice and other ceremonies, as well as the final resting place for spiritual leaders and other deceased community members from a number of tribes. Through time, Effigy Mounds continued to be a sacred place, or spiritual center, lending credence that it was seen as hallowed ground and a place of nonviolence.

Origin Stories

Effigy Mounds are a key component of many Native American tribes’ oral histories and creation stories. According to ethnographic interviews conducted during this study, Dakota, Ioway, and Winnebago have stories that connect them with the various mound groups within the monument. Tribal representatives noted that the zoomorphic effigies are closely linked to medicine and clan origins and migration. In particular, the Marching Bear Group found in the South Unit is associated with a period in history where the Ioway, Winnebago, and others were once part of one larger group of people. At one point the various clans within this larger society agreed to separate peacefully into multiple tribes. An Ioway representative noted that the formation of the Marching Bear Group is representative of that event (Figure 3). Each group broke away and headed their separate ways, one by one.

Figure 3: Aerial View of Marching Bear Group in the South Unit of Effigy Mounds (NPS)

Ho-Chunk oral histories tell of an origin story that tribal representatives believe corresponds to the Marching Bear Group: One night, the Great Spirit appeared to Bear in a dream, “My son,” he said, “it is time to leave your home and go to a new home I have made for you. No longer will you eat solely from the water. There will be other food that I have out there for you to eat.” So Bear called a council with all the other animals, including Wolf, Deer, Eagle, and Buffalo. It was decided that Deer would lead the way, so he and his people left first. Bear and his people left in the second group, followed by Wolf in the third group. Buffalo left the next morning. The final animal to leave was the mighty Eagle. Before he departed, he blessed the people who were left behind. Eagle then flew into the sunrise and disappeared over the mountains. The spirits of the early people watched them leave with tears in their eyes, but happiness in their hearts [8]. Oral history, such as the Ioway and Ho-Chunk stories, reaffirms contemporary Native American people’s connections to Effigy Mounds.

Pilgrimage and Ceremonial Activity

Human societies form complex connections and relationships with the environment that surrounds them. Their cultural understandings of the land are shared and transferred over generations through oral traditions and ceremony [9,10]. Many cultural groups, or ethnic groups, can hold different understandings of the same land [3]. For many Native American people, these engagements are grounded in their epistemologies and oral traditions [11-13]. Places are connected through songs, oral history, human relations, ceremony, and both physical and spiritual trails. These connections create synergistic relationships between people, places, and objects during ceremony. These types of connections and relationships are important for understanding the concept of pilgrimage. The act of pilgrimage involves religious specialists traveling to unique and powerful places and landscapes along special, well-established ceremonial pathways. As the religious specialists, or pilgrims, follow these trails, they perform ritual acts, which are critical to successfully completing the pilgrimage ceremony. The pilgrimage process allowed the pilgrims to gain knowledge and power at their destination places to use in ceremonies to restore balance and promote sustainability in their home communities.

The term pilgrimage is used here to describe the ceremonial journey cultural and religious leaders took when they visited the Effigy Mounds NM area. The UofA team chose this term because it was believed to be the best way to describe how the tribal leaders’ travel and visitation to their area would have hade social and spiritual importance. During pilgrimages, the travelers are left without their normal social structure, and a community or communitas (even if it is temporary) is formed [14]. Pilgrims use these new relationships to develop protocols for how to behave and perform rituals along the trail. These roles are based on the pilgrims’ ceremonial responsibilities and needs that are necessary for a successful pilgrimage. Ceremonial activity brings together people from different communities and cultural backgrounds [15-19].

Effigy Mounds served as a major ceremonial destination place for many Native American groups for thousands of years. Religious specialists followed specific trails, which included both terrestrial and water travel components. During their journeys, religious specialists likely visited places to pray and leave offerings along the routes in order to physically and spiritually prepare themselves to enter Effigy Mounds. Once they reached their destination place, religious specialists engaged in certain types of ceremonial activities. It is believed that certain types of activities occurred seasonally while others occurred annually at Effigy Mounds. According to some of the tribal representatives, ceremonies occurring at various locations within the monument were tied directly to time keeping. At least one mound group found on the high bluffs was constructed and placed in such ways that solar and lunar movements could be observed during the summer solstice. Time keeping is an important activity that exists in all human societies. Designated medicine men/religious specialists were trained for this task by tracking the movements of the planets, stars, moon, and the sun. Originally, physical time was marked at stable places on the landscape. Time often dictates and influences when specific human activities, such as ceremony, take place. Tracking solar and lunar movements plays an especially important role in agriculture; time keeping helps determine the best time for planting and harvesting produce [20]. Another major ceremonial component of Effigy Mounds was the annual activity of reconnecting with the ancestors and memorializing the deceased, as noted by tribal representatives. Annually, Native American people from connected communities visited Effigy Mounds for funeral ceremonies. Families worked together to bring in raw materials to repair and stabilize the mounds. Native American people brought the remains of important community members or religious leaders to be placed in the burial mounds at Sny Magill or on the high bluffs. Additionally, as part of the ritual activities, offerings would be brought and placed in and around the mounds.

Historical Accounts

Reuben Thwaites documented Prairie du Chien, which is located just across the Mississippi River (Figure 4), as a key trading center amongst numerous Native American tribes. [21] asserts that up to 6,000 Native Americans would visit annually. Blaine [22] makes a similar assessment about the region, referring to Prairie du Chien as an “older Indian trading rendezvous.” The proximity to the Wisconsin and Yellow River further affirms the magnitude of trade in this area, tying this landscape to the west via the Yellow River, and to the Great Lakes region via the Wisconsin River. Materials found within the burial mounds in and around Effigy Mounds also help frame the context of centralized trade in this area. Located within the mounds were traces of copper, mica, shells, and obsidian. It is speculated that each one of these materials was traded from areas to the north, south, east, and west.

Figure 4: View of Prairie du Chien from Effigy Mounds

Native American people came together in the Prairie du Chien area for other types of events aside from trade rendezvouses. Early Euro-Americans in the region noted accounts of Native American people coming together to take part in ceremonial games, such as lacrosse. According to the Ho-Chunk Nation’s timeline of their tribal history, over 300 people representing the Winnebago, the Fox, and the Sioux gathered to participate in a large lacrosse tournament near Prairie du Chien [23].

Landscapes of Origin Cases Elsewhere

Various ceremonial centers found in North America were utilized by multiple ethnic groups for a wide range of purposes. These locations had ritualistic and ceremonial components related to Native American epistemology and reinforced both intra- and inter- tribal bonds. Among these locations are: (1) Pipestone, (2) Medicine Mountain, (3) Zuni Salt Lake, (4) Chaco, and (5) Sugarloaf Mountain. The following section provides information on these locations and shows the parallels between them and Effigy Mounds.

Pipestone National Monument Case One

Pipestone National Monument (Pipestone) is located in Pipestone County, near the three-state border of Minnesota, South Dakota, and Iowa (Figure 5). Before the arrival of Europeans, various Native American groups lived in the vicinity of the present-day monument. They, along with other Native American groups who did not live in the immediate vicinity of the monument, visited the quarry in order to obtain catlinite to manufacture ceremonial pipe bowls and other objects. The stone gets its name from nineteenth-century artist, George Catlin, who described and painted it. The monument takes its name from this resource, and later the quarry and adjacent area became a national monument in 1937 [24].

Figure 5: Pipestone Landscape

Before Euro-American settlers introduced drastic changes to its natural landscape, the monument included some wetlands and tall grass prairies. This area was under natural fire and drought cycles that preserved its open grassland ecosystems. The monument lies on the outer, southwestern edge of the “Prairie Lake” subregion of the Northeastern Plains, which is characterized by inland lacustrine and riverine drainage systems that once fed both grasslands and wetlands [25]. The ancient heritage cultural landscape of the Pipestone quarries was the product of several Native American tribes who made use of the area, and specifically the pipestone, since A.D. 1400-1450 (Figure 6). These included the Poncas, Omahas, Ioways, Otoes, Sacs, Foxes, and Sioux, although the latter were in control of the Coteau des Prairies by the early 1700s. Sioux interest in the quarries and surrounding region are attested to through migration stories and documented annual pilgrimages to this ceremonial center to obtain pipestone. The Sioux also went there to perform rituals, hold ceremonies, gather plants, and hunt wildlife. Some camp and village sites were established periodically in the region, as were breastworks or enclosures presumed to be defensive structures [24].

Figure 6: Artist’s Rendition of Ceremonial Activity at Pipestone from the Monument Visitor Center

While ceremonial activities may have occurred elsewhere, it seems that the healing and ritual activities primarily involved the water, the waterfalls, and the view of the treeless prairie from the quartzite ridge. Overall, most activities involved one or more of four primary features in the traditional cultural landscape: the waterfalls, the Pipestone quarries, the Three Maidens, and Leaping Rock [5]. The sacred nature of the Pipestone local ceremonial landscape began with medicine plants and rites-of-passage rituals. Then, according to Sioux oral history, White Buffalo Women brought the pipe to the Sioux and the practice of quarrying pipestone began. Native American interpretations and attachments to the place persisted through time, although they became secondary to quarrying the pipestone [5]. The Cree also have oral histories about the sacred pipe and the creation of the catlinite quarry at Pipestone. Catlin [26] recorded one story of a Cree that had visited Pipestone: …in the time of a great freshet, which took place many centuries ago, and destroyed all the nations of the earth, all the tribes of the red men assembled on the Conteau du Prairie, to get out of the way of the waters. After they had all gathered here from all parts, the water continued to rise, until at length it covered them all in a mass, and their flesh was converted into red pipe stone. Therefore, it has always been considered neutral ground – it belonged to all tribes alike, and all were allowed to get it and smoke it together. Catlin documented several tribes’ origin stories of Pipestone. Each attributed the use of Pipestone to multiple groups, and each tribe emphasized Pipestone as a place of peace. For thousands of years, during which Native American people used this ceremonial center, it was primarily a male place where medicine men sought plants for healing, performed rites-of-passage, and pursued vision quests. One such rite involved a four-day submergence in the Pipestone Creek (Figure 7), after which boys became men and could be counted on to have the stamina necessary for hunting and fighting [5].

Figure 7: Winnewissa Falls along Pipestone Creek

Upon arriving at the ceremonial center, they would set up camp away from the quarries. Once greeted by thunder and lightning storms, the men would make ceremonial camps near the Three Maidens and begin to prepare themselves by cleansing in the creek and giving prayers and tobacco offerings at the Three Maidens, which is the gateway into the sacred areas of Pipestone. If thunder and lightning greeted them again, the place had heard their prayers and given them permission to enter the site. If thunder and lightning did not occur, the men may have returned to the ceremonial camp for more preparation or to the main camp to prepare for the return home [5]. Having entered the quarry sites, many of which paralleled the quartzite ridge for nearly a mile, the men who were not quarrying might continue with sweats and prayers until they were needed. Upon entering a quarry, each man would make a tobacco offering to indicate their purity and to protect them while they worked. When they were done, they took the offerings with them to show respect for the spirits of the sacred area [5].

Medicine Wheel/Medicine Mountain Case Two

Medicine  Wheel/Medicine  Mountain  National  Historical Landmark (Medicine Mountain) is a large ceremonial center in present day Wyoming (Figure 8). Many Native American groups such as the Arapaho, Bannock, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Crow, Kootenai- Salish, Plains Cree, Shoshone, and Sioux have all come to this area for ritual activity over the course of at least 7,000 years. Medicine men/religious leaders visited the mountain for a range of ceremonial activities related to doctoring and vision questing. During recent ethnographic studies, tribal religious leaders and tribal elders have pointed out that even across the many different groups connected to Medicine Mountain, there is a common and shared understanding of the spiritual and ceremonial importance of this landscape [27,28].

Figure 8: Medicine Mountain Landscape

Medicine Mountain (Figure 9) is at the center of numerous ceremonial trails leading into the area from different directions. Once religious leaders approached the base of the mountain, they would ascend the eastern slope. The trails along the eastern side of the mountain have been interpreted by some Native Americans as being linked to the notion that Medicine Mountain is not just a mountain, but rather it is a spirit lodge in a very literal sense [27-29]. The mountain houses important spirits, and for those visiting the mountain, they must approach it in the same culturally appropriate manner as you would a spirit lodge (Sun Dance or ceremonial lodges). In order to do so, it must be approached from the east.

Figure 9: Medicine Mountain (NPS 2015)

The trails leading up the eastern flank of the mountain are marked with rock cairns surrounded by ritually deposited materials, or offerings. Numerous features are located along the trails up the mountain, such as stone-lined arrow effigies, rock cairns, prayer shrines, patches of medicinal plants, and places for short- and long- term occupancy. When reaching the top of the mountain, religious leaders had access to designated areas for vision questing along the rim [27-29]. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel on the ridge west of the Medicine Mountain summit is the principal ceremonial site (Figure 10). Native Americans have described it as “the altar” for Medicine Mountain. Healing ceremonies for sick individuals who have made the pilgrimage tothe mountain are performed in the northeastern part of the district [27-29].

Figure 10: Bighorn Medicine Wheel

The large medicine wheel at the top of the mountain is also a ceremonial destination place. The medicine wheel has been used for two distinct ceremonial purposes during two time periods. It is believed that Native Americans first used the medicine wheel as a time keeping instrument with a select and highly specialized group of religious leaders involved in time keeping ceremonies. It was likely their pilgrimages to Medicine Mountain occurred at different periods than those for vision quest. At a later point in time, the medicine wheel became an area associated with doctoring ceremonies. During healing ceremonies, balance would be restored to both the patient and the surrounding environment [27-29].

Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary Case Three

Located 42 miles south of the Pueblo of Zuni, the Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary (Zuni Salt Lake) (Figure 11) is a ceremonial center that is approximately ten miles in circumference. This landscape of origin is on the NRHP as a historic archaeology district rather than a TCP due to the number of inholding private properties. The lake is located in a circular depression and contains a large concentration of salt. The crater was formed by volcanic activity associated with the two cinder cones found at the south side of the lake [30]. People are often drawn to volcanic sites; volcanic activity plays a key role in the development of unique minerals and biotic communities. Volcanoes are seen as special places, especially to Pueblo communities, whose membership often refer to them as Earth Navels [31]. This ceremonial center features in the oral histories of Acoma, Hopi, Laguna, and Zuni. Each pueblo has individual origin stories that account for the lake and the Salt Woman who resides in it. Duff et al. [32] identifies the Salt Woman in each pueblo’s history, known as Ma’lokyyattsik’i to the Zuni, Öng.wùuti to the Hopi, and Mina Koya to Acoma and Laguna (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Zuni Salt Lake Landscape

Stories about Salt Woman have common themes among various Pueblo peoples. Salt Woman took a long journey to each of the tribes before she settled down at the salt lake, and her home can still be identified by the people in these respective locations. While living with the tribes she was not respected: some people wanted her to leave because of her appearance, and some even polluted her home. The Salt Woman eventually left the tribes and traveled east on the back of an eagle where she met Turquoise Man. From there she traveled south, leaving remnants of her travels behind, and eventually settled at the lake (Figure 12) [32].

Figure 12: Ariel View of Zuni Salt Lake (Duff et al. 2008)

Realizing their mistakes, the Pueblos reconnect with the Salt Woman at Zuni Salt Lake by collecting the sacred salt from the lake. Out of respect for Salt Woman, the Zuni Salt Lake area is a conflict-free area. Today, the sacred salt is acknowledged as spiritually important to the people and used for ceremony and healing. The lake is surrounded by prehistoric trails that connect associated Pueblos. Contemporary pilgrimages take these pueblos to Zuni Salt Lake via these trails for ceremony and ritual collecting of this highly valued salt (Figure 13) [32,33].

Figure 13: Aerial View of Zuni Salt Lake Taken from Google Earth

Oday, Zuni Salt Lake is protected by the Pueblo of Zuni. In order to access this sacred location, individuals would have to obtain permissions from governing Pueblo of Zuni officials. According to an elder from the Pueblo of Zuni, the idea of getting permission to visit the site is problematic because all culturally affiliated pueblos have rights to the sacred landscape, not just Zuni [32].

Chaco Culture Case Four

Chaco Culture National Historical Park (Chaco) (Figure 14) is located in the San Juan Basin of the Four Corners region of New Mexico in the Southwestern United States. Chaco is a large regional ceremonial center that builds on complex inter-tribal relationships [34-36]. Numerous Western Pueblo tribes are culturally affiliated with Chaco, including Acoma Pueblo, Hopi Tribe, Nambe Pueblo, Navajo Nation, Pojoaque Pueblo, Santa Ana Pueblo, Santa Clara Pueblo, Santo Domingo Pueblo, Tesuque Pueblo, Zia Pueblo, and Zuni Pueblo [36].

Figure 14: Chaco Landscape

Chaco was a regional pilgrimage center [37] and likely remained a destination of special importance and continued to be visited through pilgrimages after the fall of Chacoan culture [36,37] argue that “undertaking the pilgrimage [to Chaco] was a way to demonstrate one’s commitment to the religious system centered at Chaco and the identity and moral system tied to it.” Connections to distant communities are evident in exotic materials found within the canyon, such as macaw remains, which trace this linkage as far away as Mesoamerica. Much of the ceramics and lithic remains found within Chaco were identified as non-local, and great houses contained hundreds of rooms with sleeping platforms [37]. Estimates put the peak population of Chaco between 2,100 and 2,700. However, construction of structures and agricultural fields at Chaco could have supported much greater numbers [38]; this suggests Chaco served not as a larger pueblo for year-round living but as a ceremonial center for seasonal visitors. Lekson [39] also argues that Chaco served as the regional ceremonial center that was linked to Aztec Ruins and Casas Grandes (Paquimé) through the Chaco Meridian, a longitudinal line at approximately 108 degrees west that connects these three ceremonial centers.

Construction in Chaco suggests a ceremonial use of the great houses (Figure 15) within the area. According to Sofaer [40], “major buildings of the ancient Chacoan culture of New Mexico contain solar and lunar cosmology in three separate articulations: their orientations, internal geometry, and geographic interrelationships.” There are a series of great houses (Figure 15), large multi-level developments, often oriented with solar, lunar, and cardinal directions built within line of site with one another (NPS N.d. a) [41].

Figure 15: The Pueblo Bonito Great House as Seen from a Cliff

A unique system of signal fires connected the great houses of Chaco. Signaling stations played a major role in the organization of Chacoan communities. These stations, which were lit with fires and intensified with reflective materials such as mica or selenite, are located along the roads of Chaco, creating connections between the great houses [42]. Signal fires can have a wide range of purposes, such as for ritual and ceremony, warfare, hunting, scheduling, and even defense [43]. These signal fires are located in high areas with unobstructed views to the next, typically on a tall building or a hill. Selenite, a highly reflective material, was found at some of the signaling sites across Chaco [43]. These signaling stations were capable of quickly carrying information across the canyon to each great house, allowing ceremonies to be conducted simultaneously across the entire region.

Fajada Butte (Figure 16) is a large topographic feature that stands over 400 feet high. It was one of the primary ceremonial destination places for religious leaders who traveled from other Chacoan communities. These journeys would be part of major events that were marked by the Sun Dagger. Also, trips would be made to this area for continuous interactions with the sites and shrines, ceremonies, interactions with other religious specialists to share ideas, and for teaching inexperienced people about time keeping and the movements of the sun, moon, and stars. The Sun Dagger on Fajada Butte is in the southeastern gap of the primary canyon in Chaco, approximately one kilometer to the east of Chacra Mesa (Figure 17). The dagger is formed by three large sandstone slabs that collimate sunlight onto two spirals [44,45]. The slabs result from a natural rock fall, not human engineering. While impossible to date the rock fall and peckings, it can be inferred that ancestral Native Americans carved the spirals after observing the light patterns for numerous annual cycles, thus using naturally occurring patterns and human made alternations to engineer a calendar [36,44].

Figure 16: Fajada Butte

Figure 17: The Sun Dagger Over a Petroglyph at Fajada Butte

Along the predominant ledge just below the Sun Dagger, there are a series of rooms that extend around most of butte. These rooms have been exposed due to erosion processes. In nearly all of the rooms that were visited during the 1994 study, pieces of pottery were found. One of the rooms is circular shaped and visiting tribal representatives believed it to be a kiva. It has been estimated that 20 to 30 rooms were built at this level, and they are believed to be the rooms where time keeping specialists lived during ceremonial activities on the butte [36]. Rooms were used by more experienced specialists to teach newcomers about celestial movements. Near the roofs of these rooms are various calendars and peckings which have been identified as representing clans, origin beings, ancestral beings, and physical representations of time. In accordance with traditional and contemporary use patterns of Pueblo households, theroofs of these rooms were seen as appropriate places to study, teach, and record the movements of the stars, sun, and moon [36].

Sugarloaf Mountain/Goldstrike Canyon

Sugarloaf Mountain/Gold Strike Hot Springs (Sugarloaf Mountain) is the fifth Landscape of Origin to be described and used to compare with Effigy Mounds (Figure 18). Sugarloaf Mountain is a valuable point of comparison because it was the first Native American cultural property that existed in two U.S. states (Arizona and Nevada) to be placed on the NRHP as a Native American TCP. In addition, the Sugarloaf Mountain TCP includes a portion of the Colorado River where Indian people traditionally moved between the hot spring canyon in Nevada and the ceremonial mountain in Arizona (Figure 19). Because Sugarloaf Mountain has been placed on the NRHP, this description uses text from the formal document.

Figure 18: Sugarloaf Mountain Landscape

Figure 19: Sugarloaf Mountain and the Colorado River

This property (a technical term used in the TCP nomination process) was successfully evaluated as a part of a larger cultural landscape of origin that has significance to a number of Native American tribes in the region. Although the TCP evaluation focused primarily on the mountain and the hot spring canyon located just across the Colorado River to the west, its cultural significance is, in large part, determined by its place within this larger landscape of origin setting. The Southern Paiutes, Hualapais, and Mohaves have all traditionally used Sugarloaf Mountain as a place for practicing spiritual, scientific, educational, political, economic, and social activities. The long-term presence of Native Americans at Sugarloaf Mountain is evidenced by physical artifacts that include two noticeable demarcated ceremonial clearings, apetroglyph, a turquoise mine at the base of the mountain, a cave with grindstones for corn or paint, small healing rocks, and several lithic scatters [46]. In addition to archeological evidence, historical and contemporary documentation confirms the existence of strong connections between Sugarloaf Mountain and the Southern Paiutes, Hualapais, and Mohaves. These intimate and deeply forged connections to Sugarloaf Mountain are integral to the maintenance of cultural, spiritual, ecological, and historic continuity between the ancient people of southern Nevada and their contemporary descendants. Today, the preservation of sacred knowledge and traditional cultural practices through the education of young people hinges upon the recognition and protection of those sacred places of the Southern Paiutes, Hualapais, and Mohaves that have not been irrevocably altered. Sugarloaf Mountain is such a place [46]. Amongst the Mohaves, Sugarloaf Mountain is repeatedly mentioned as a place that is tied to the sacred mountain, Avikwame. In travel songs, bird songs, and celebratory songs, Sugarloaf Mountain is noted as the northern most boundary as well as a spiritual place of power, which islinked to the Origin Mountain, Avikwame. The Hualapais also experience enduring connections to Sugarloaf Mountain. Upon arriving to Sugarloaf Mountain, one Hualapai elder began to speak in the cry voice about that which came before. In the presence of the mountain, she re-experienced the memories of her ancestors whose presence at Sugarloaf remains strong. She relayed how elders, adults, youths, and babies were forced to leave their ancestral lands and march to La Paz. Many were shot, thrown into pits full of slain humans, and even buried alive. Hualapai women and children were frequently killed alongside Hualapai men. Those who were not shot often died of European diseases and starvation. Today the Hualapai meet each year to conduct a three-day ceremony to mourn and honor the people who died on the march to La Paz [46]. The Southern Paiutes also experience intimate connections with Sugarloaf Mountain. According to several elders, Sugarloaf Mountain is on the Salt Song Pathway to the afterlife. Although first recorded at the turn of the century, the Salt Songs have their origins in times before Euro-American histories. The Southern Paiutes continue to sing the Salt Songs today. As a result, the sacred places that are mentioned in these songs remain central to Southern Paiute identity and culture. This is confirmed in ethnographic interviews. The elders explained that “Sugarloaf is a sacred place to Southern Paiutes. It is the only place of its kind that is used as a path to communicate with spiritual beings in the area” [46]. In addition, “The doctor rocks, crystals, and offering places in this area were placed here by the Creator for Southern Paiutes and others” [46].

Since time immemorial, Southern Paiutes, Hualapais, and Mohaves have practiced cultural observances at Sugarloaf Mountain. On the top of Sugarloaf, individuals and shamans used the ceremonial clearings for spiritual purposes, astronomical observances, teaching, and both political and social gatherings. The base of Sugarloaf Mountain has frequently been used in connection with healing activities utilizing doctor rocks, plants, and whiptail lizards [46]. Today Sugarloaf Mountain is integral to the maintenance and perpetuation of the cultural traditions of the Southern Paiute, Hualapai, and Mohave. This sacred place serves as a location where cultural traditions and knowledge can be conveyed from generation to generation. As there are many factors that endanger the cultural traditions of these groups, it is essential to protect and preserve Sugarloaf Mountain so that it may continue to play its critical role in the transmission of knowledge from elders to youths. Many elders agree that Sugarloaf Mountain is “a good place to teach children and let them understand better what it’s all about” [46]. Sugarloaf Mountain has always been a ceremonial destination place where individuals, medicine men/ religious specialists, and healers have gone to develop and practice their knowledge. Amongst the Southern Paiutes, Sugarloaf Mountain has served as an area where people have gone to educate and prepare themselves for sacred ceremonies occurring at Gypsum Cave. Sugarloaf Mountain has also served as a community learning center. “The old people used to meet here with the Hualapais, Chemehuevi Paiutes, Moapa Paiutes and others for spiritualpurposes,” [46]. In addition, Sugarloaf Mountain has traditionally served as “a place away from main villages, where people came to talk about common interests,” [46]. Today the Southern Paiute, Hualapai, and Mohave express a unified desire to maintain these practices and thus ensure their knowledge and traditions will be kept alive and rejuvenated amongst younger generations [46]. The following are discussions of specific key cultural components of Sugarloaf Mountain as a TCP which is located within a larger Landscape of Origin. Figure 20 is a representation of the Sugarloaf landscape with the three pilgrimage trails marked in brown.

Figure 20: Diagram of Sugarloaf Mountain Pilgrimage Trails and Associated Features

A Landmark

Sugarloaf Mountain has been used as a landmark as well as a ceremonial center for the exchange of knowledge over thousands of years. This knowledge comes from elder teachers as well as the mountain itself, which the Southern Paiute, Hualapai, and Mohaves have been taught to attune themselves towards, and thus accrue knowledge from multiple rather than singular educational sources. As much of this knowledge is learned directly from the mountain itself, this place is integral to cultural traditions [46].

A Ceremonial Area

The ceremonial activities constitute one of the central functions of Sugarloaf Mountain. These activities involved both individual shamans and groups of people who regularly convened on Sugarloaf Mountain to worship, develop knowledge, and express knowledge through healing practices. These activities included astronomical observations, rituals, vision quests, and the collective augmentation of knowledge [46].

Vision Questing Area

Sugarloaf Mountain also served as a location for vision quests that sometimes involved both individuals and whole families. These vision quests occurred at Sugarloaf Mountain because it was a known center of power. Today this same power is acknowledged and understood by the Southern Paiute, Hualapai, and Mohave elders. The recognition of this power explains their need to teach their children at this location [46].

A Healing Area

Sugarloaf Mountain has always played an integral role in the healing traditions of the Southern Paiute, Hualapai, and Mohave. In both prehistoric and historic times successful healing required an in-depth knowledge of the healing resources provided at Sugarloaf Mountain, as well as a respectful relationship with this source of power. The power of Sugarloaf Mountain helped them to prepare themselves for receiving the songs necessary for healing, as well as the knowledge to utilize the water, doctor rocks, lizard tails, plants, and regions of healing in a manner conducive to physical and spiritual restoration [46].

An Area for Ceremony and Intertribal Gatherings

Sugarloaf Mountain has been repeatedly noted as a place of power. Those who gathered at Sugarloaf Mountain did so under varying circumstances. Frequently, the gathering focused on spiritual and educational purposes, which speaks to the focus on events that contributed to cultural continuity. It is suggested in interviews that Native Americans gathered at Sugarloaf Mountain under political pretenses including the Ghost Dance. Therefore, the ceremonial clearings had multiple functions [46].

A Component of a Cultural Landscape

Sugarloaf Mountain expresses its power through all of the elements of nature, which are understood to manifest in concert rather than as discrete entities. Sugarloaf Mountain exists as a place of power within a larger plane of interconnections. Tribal representatives noted that it is related to other significant places including Gypsum Cave and Avikwame. Sugarloaf Mountain has functions and uses that are simultaneously unique yet integrally related to places beyond itself. The cultural features/elements found at Sugarloaf Mountain are part of a larger cultural entity, preserving the larger traditions of multiple ethnic groups. The mountain and its natural/cultural elements are a significant part of a cognized landscape important to tribes in the region. From the top of Sugarloaf Mountain, the people who frequented this place had a viewscape that connected the mountain and its people to the four directions and the sacred places noted in both songs and oral histories [46].

A TCP with Continued Cultural Centrality

The Southern Paiutes, Hualapais, and Mohaves are invested in protecting and continuing their relationships with Sugarloaf Mountain because it is a ceremonial place in a landscape of origin and a significant source of knowledge and power. The designated boundaries of the TCP are shown in Figure 21. This power does not express itself in a unilinear fashion, wherein only humans benefit. Instead, the Southern Paiutes, Haulapais and Mohaves strive to create relationships that are mutually respectful, knowledge-based, and balanced [46].

Figure 21: Sugarloaf Mountain TCP Boundaries (Stoffle et al. 2000)

The Southern Paiute, Hualapai, and Mohave elders repeatedly voiced the need to bring their youth to Sugarloaf Mountain. This desire stems from the power of the place, as well as the educational process that has always played a primary function at this sacred landscape.

Discussion

These six case studies are comparable examples of geoparks in Landscapes of Origin. The purposes and uses of these places were different from place to place, however, there are distinct similarities. Numerous Native American tribes connected to these geoplaces have used these ceremonial centers for thousands of years. The connections that these groups have to these landscapes are complex and layered, and shift throughout time. Sacred connections to these areas are culturally significant to many different Native American people.

Landscapes of Origin – Creation

Common themes exist between these ceremonial centers and Effigy Mounds. One example is the connections made through origin stories. Places like Zuni Salt Lake, Chaco, and Pipestone are associated with multiple origin stories from surrounding Native American tribes. At Zuni Salt Lake, Salt Woman, the creator being that resides in the lake, features in the origin stories of Zuni, Acoma, Hopi, and Laguna. Furthermore, she continues to serve an important role in their cultures by providing salt to the associated Pueblos. Similarly, affiliated Pueblo groups have creation stories that tell of clan migrations through Chaco. At Pipestone, Sioux accounts attribute the creation of Pipestone to White Buffalo Woman, while Cree accounts associate the place with a great flood and the coming together of many different ethnic groups. Similarly, culturally affiliated tribes at Effigy Mounds have origin stories that link clan migrations to specific mound groups within the monument.

Landscapes of Origin – Ceremony

There are parallels between ritual activities conducted at Effigy Mounds and previously discussed ceremonial centers. For example, Effigy Mounds, Chaco, and Medicine Mountain have features used in time keeping ceremonies. Activities that occur at these three ceremonial centers are linked to solar and lunar observations made by religious leaders of the community. Tracking time was used for a range of activities including agriculture, pilgrimage, and balancing ceremonies. Chaco, a pilgrimage destination place, housed religious leaders from across the region to conduct large scale ceremony involving solar and lunar observations at Fajada Butte. Religious leaders were positioned throughout the canyon to conduct simultaneous ceremonies, which were coordinated through signal fires. Medicine Mountain also had a time keeping component; the medicine wheel itself was a calendar used to track the passage of time. Other ceremonies at Medicine Mountain involved healing and vision questing. At Effigy Mounds, a linear mound at the Marching Bear Group lines up perfectly with the sun during the summer solstice, similar to the structures across Chaco or the spokes of the Bighorn Medicine Wheel. Locations along the bluffs of Effigy Mounds and surrounding areas, such as Pikes’ Peak, contained evidence of fire use, which was used potentially to coordinate a region-wide simultaneous ceremony.

Landscapes of Origin – Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage is the third common theme among the landscapes of origin discussed in this article. Pilgrimages to these sacred landscapes involved patterned movements along predetermined routes and trail networks. The movement of people along these routes were part of the ceremonies themselves. Religious specialists traveled great distances to engage with these landscapes. Along the trails, the specialists (also referred to as pilgrims) visited shrines, leaving offerings and saying prayers. These acts provided the pilgrims with knowledge they needed to continue with their journeys. The six (6) case studies have well defined and understood trail systems that lead to the ceremonial destination places from the various home communities of the connected ethnic groups. For example, at Sugarloaf, Southern Paiute religious specialists traveled along trails from the west, Mohave people traveled from the south, and Hualapai traveled from the east to reach the mountain. The trails to Sugarloaf share similar features and places of prayer; along these trails a similar pecked figure is found, which is also found on the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. At Medicine Mountain, pilgrimage trails lead to the mountain from all directions, however these trails all come together at the base of the eastern slope of the mountain. All religious specialists seeking to engage the Medicine Wheel for ceremony must approach it from an easterly direction in a manner that parallels how one enters a medicine lodge. Effigy Mounds is a known destination place for many different ethnic groups, which would have used unique land and water trails to approach this scared landscape. River navigation likely played a key component in pilgrimage. Religious specialists would have canoed down the Mississippi, Wisconsin, and Yellow Rivers to reach their destination.

Landscapes of Origin – Conflict Free Zones

An important component of landscapes of origin in Native North America is the multi-ethnic use/neutral component to these places. Places, such as Pipestone and the Zuni Salt Lake, are well documented as playing an important role in the ritual, ceremony, and pilgrimage of multiple affiliated tribes and pueblos who have a shared use of the place and its resources. Pipestone and Zuni Salt Lake’s origin narratives indicate that the neutrality of the place is a part of respecting the creator being that resides in the landscape. Multiple narratives account for the multi-ethnic use of Pipestone, many of which were documented by Catlin [26] during his visit to Coteau des Prairie, though the territory was controlled by the Sioux during his travels. Similarly, Nicollet wrote about Pipestone being a place of peace that was visited at different times of the year by different tribes [47]. Zuni Salt Lake has an identified Sanctuary, 182,000 acres approximately ten miles around the lake, which was added to the NRHP. The area includes pilgrimage trails and religious shrines that play important roles in the ritual use of Zuni Salt Lake. This area is traditionally void of any violence out of respect for the Salt Woman [32]. The bluffs of Effigy Mounds were central to the ceremony conducted by multiple visiting Native Americans, but likely they were a part of a greater landscape that extended along the Mississippi River and across the river in Prairie du Chien, which was a documented trading hub and ceremonial center for visiting tribes. In order not to disrupt ceremonies at the mounds or the economic and cultural ties between these groups, this area would similarly be declared neutral grounds rooted in the creation narratives of the landscape. The common themes that have been highlighted throughout this analysis show that multi-ethnic ceremonial centers exist in Native North America, exist because of special geological features, and have ritual and cultural-historical components to them. Effigy Mounds fits into the definition of a multi-ethnic ceremonial center, because Native Americans have long-term spiritual connections to the mounds and the mounds serve as physical links to Creation stories. While the uses of Effigy Mounds are tribal and place specific, the broader pattern of this ceremonial center is found elsewhere. Like the five Zuni Salt Lake, Medicine Wheel, Chaco, and Sugarloaf Mountain, Effigy Mounds continues to hold cultural meaning and spiritual importance to contemporary tribal peoples.

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DOI: 10.31038/GEMS.2024634

Abstract

The heritage cultural contexts of playas are poorly understood by United States federal and state agencies because there has been a persistent theory that these topographic features are marginal to Native American life. Despite this perspective, Native American peoples in formal public ethnographic interviews persistently state that these playas are old living areas going back to a time (end of the Pleistocene) when the lakes were full and surrounded by lush vegetation. Slowly the lakes receded but Indian people continued to live along their shores. Given the tens of thousands of years that Indian people have lived along the edges of these lakes, it is unsurprising that they should remember those past times and return to the playas today, seeking connection with their ancestors and the places that sustained them and permitted the formation of an ancient heritage way of life. The analysis is based on field ethnographic interviews with Paiute, Shoshone, and Goshute people.

Keywords

Pleistocene, Native American culture, Playas as Heritage, Persistent culture, Great basin ethnography, Ethnogeology

Playas as Native American Heritage Places

People from western cultures have regularly viewed desert playas of the western United States as sterile and of little utility except for gathering salt or minerals. In line with this unimportant valuation of desert playas by western observers, many call the region “The Great American Wasteland” [1]. The region’s culturally affiliated Native Americans, however, tend to view these playas as heritage areas extending back in deep time to the Pleistocene when they were filled with lakes, surrounded by wetlands, and drained by permanent streams. According to the University of Utah’s Shoshoni Dictionary[2] (Shoshoni Language Project 2024), the Goshute people refer to themselves as the Newe[nɨwɨ] or Newenee [nɨwɨnɨɨ] meaning the Person or the People. There have been times throughout their history where they have been referred to as Kutsipiuti (Gutsipiuti) or Kuttuhsippeh which translates to “People of the dry earth” or “People of the Desert” (literally: “dust, dry ashes People”) [1,3]. Goshute means people covered with dust, dusty people, or desert, terms which were reiterated generations later in Halmo et al. [4]. In the same study, contemporary Goshute people who are fluent in their language use the term in reference to the white alkali dust that lines the lowest portions of most valleys [4,5]. Our analysis explains why the playa dust symbolizes heritage connections with the land and past lives. Native American heritage perspectives regarding playas are required in national searches for places to drop bombs, make landing strips for large military aircraft, build industrial scale solar arrays, and mine rare earth minerals, including lithium. Native American cultural impacts regarding proposed federal land use are required by law and regulation and must be clearly articulated during environmental impact assessments. The spatial focus of this analysis is the Great Basin of the western U.S. It is largely defined by internal draining, endorheic lakes and rivers. Because of its unique topography, the Great Basin has been characterized by its state of being largely filled with water during the much wetter Pleistocene, as well as its dry salt, mineral, and sand flats in the latter Holocene. Playa is the term normally used to discuss these salty, white sand, mineral deposits (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The Great Basin

The temporal frame for this heritage analysis of playas is operationally defined as the late Pleistocene, which occurred between 128,000 BP and 11,700 BP, and the Holocene, from 11,700 BP to modern times. Scientific studies have placed Native Americans in the region at least by 37,000 BP with the geoarchaeology dates of 23,000- 21,000 BP at White Sands, New Mexico [6,7] and 38,900 to 36,250 BP at the Hartley locality, a mammoth kill site situated near the Rio Puerco, New Mexico [8]. These new geoscience dates indicate that Indigenous Peoples experienced this area as both a massive wetland filled with lakes, rivers, and swamps and later as an arid desert with intermittent streams, sand dunes, small artesian springs, and heritage playas.

Pleistocene in the Great Basin

The Late Pleistocene ecology of the Great Basin and western Colorado Plateau regions was rich in fauna and flora. Central to this supportive habitat were wet forested uplands, full grasslands, and long wetlands located along a complex network of streams feeding into medium and large lakes [9]. American Indian people lived here, hunting, gathering, making trails, building communities, and engaging the topographically interesting landscape with ceremonial activities. Large mammals, like mammoth, roamed these habitats from the lowest wetlands up to 8,990 feet where the Huntington Mammoth remains were found – a subalpine environment in the late Pleistocene [9]. While contemporary scholars often focus their studies on charismatic species like mammoth, dozens of medium sized mammals were found as well including camels, horses, ground sloths, skunks, bears, sabretooth cats, American lions, flat-headed peccaries, muskoxen, mountain goats, pronghorn antelope, and American cheetahs. Many smaller mammals were also present. Like their mammal cousins, avian species were abundant and ranging in different sizes from the largest being the Incredible Teratorn with a wingspan of 17 feet and the Merriam’s Teratorn with a wingspan of 12 feet (both related to the condors and vultures) to the smallest hummingbirds [9]. Other birds included flamingos, storks, shelducks, condors, vultures, hawks, eagles, caracaras, lapwings, thick-knees, jays, cowbirds, and blackbirds. The biodiversity of the land and air was matched by the fish species and with large numbers in the streams and lakes. There were at least 20 species of fish including whitefish, cisco, trout, chum, dace, shiner, sucker, and sculpin [9]. The fish species traveled widely across the Great Basin through a variety of interconnected lakes and streams. The massive late Pleistocene Lake Bonneville was a central portion of this hydrological network supporting fish species, and by implications of great biodiversity in flora and fauna (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Pleistocene Lakes in the western Great Basin [9]

Grayson concluded his analysis with an ecological assessment of the late Pleistocene natural conditions in the Great Basin region. “The large number of species of vultures, condors, and teratorns in the Late Pleistocene Great Basin raises a number of interesting ecological questions…the fact that there were so many species of these birds here suggests that the mammal fauna of the time was not only rich in species, but also rich in number of individual animals” [9]. Paleo- Indian populations were also well supported by this bounty of nature.

This Native American analysis of heritage playas is based on tribally approved public ethnographic findings derived from two major U.S. federal level environmental impact studies, generally referred to as either an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) or an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Both EIAs were considered nationally important and referenced a Legislative EIS or a Programmatic EIS. The first study involves the US. Air Force and a Congressional review of a proposal to expand the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) managed by the Nellis Air Force Base (Figure 3). The study involved three proposals for withdrawing lands from other federal agencies and adding them to the NTTR. Congressional review was required because the proposals involve multiple federal agencies and only the Congress has the authority to make these decisions [10]. The final report was called a Legislative EIS (LEIS).

Figure 3: Legislative EIS Proposed Withdrawn Study Areas [11]

The second study involved a Solar Programmatic EIS of nine proposed large-scale energy developments centered on large playas [12]. The playas are located on lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) (Figure 4). These study areas were identified by a scientific team who suggested that establishing the social zones on playas was most effective. These areas were already managed by the federal government and the playas were largely devoted to natural and cultural resources [13]. The involved American Indian tribal governments and their appointed cultural representatives participated in the Solar PEIS to explain the meaning and cultural centrality of the plants, animals, spiritual trails, healing places, and places of historic encounters that exist in these playa lands.

Figure 4: Solar Map [12]

Both studies were funded by the involved federal agencies (U.S. Air Force and Bureau of Land Management) and conducted by a research team from the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. These two large scale environmental impact assessments involved extensive and ancient playas occupied since the late Pleistocene by Native Americans. Formal government-to- government consultation with the participation of culturally affiliated Native American tribes was a foundation for each study. Each tribe selected representatives for field interviews and reviewed and approved the resulting ethnographic findings and recommendations.

Methods

The study areas of the LEIS and Solar PEIS were defined by the management agencies, but the University of Arizona ethnographers were asked to send invitation letters for study participation to culturally affiliated tribes. Those tribes interested in participating in the study were subsequently invited to participate. Each participating tribe had experience with the UofA ethnographic study team, so the parameters of the study were both clear and understood. The UofA methods have been published elsewhere (Stoffie 2007; 2000). The study methods were developed with participating tribal elders and tribal cultural departments.The following table cross-references participating tribes and the studies involved in this analysis. The reviewed and tribally approved research findings are available at Solar PEIS [12,13] and LEIS Websites [11] (Table 1).

Table 1: Cross-Referenced Chart of Tribes to Ethongraphies

In all studies, participating tribes selected culturally knowledgeable elders to visit the study area. Elders were provided Per diem, lodging, and transportation during the fieldwork. The timing and location of the site visits were influenced by the physical condition of elders. As a rule, up to 3 hours were available at each study site and all elders were provided with a confidential interview. The report text was written by the UofA study team and then sent to elders for review, corrections, and approval. Once the elder study team approved their text, it was sent to their tribal government who checked the text to be assured it did not contain confidential cultural knowledge. In all cases, the findings were available in final public report [12].

Playas as Heritage Places

The following are research studies where ethnographic interviews have been conducted with the permission of culturally affiliated tribal governments regarding their connections to a playa. The cases have been selected because they are both comparative and contrastive, thus providing a variety of cultural perspectives on the meaning of playas. We assert that the resulting database provides a solid foundation for an ethnographic statement on Native people and heritage playas.

Desert Lake Playa

Desert Lake Playa was observed and discussed by tribal representatives during field visits as part of the LEIS (Figure 5). It was said by tribal representatives that Desert Lake is a portal through which power flows and connects to other locations, people, and living ancestors of this sacred land [14]. These larger connections of the lake include the Southern Paiutes to the south and east and Shoshones to the west and north.

Figure 5: Location of Desert Lake Playa in LEIS Area 3c Proposed Withdrawal from the Desert National Wildlife Refuge.

A central pilgrimage trail documented by LEIS tribal representatives passes through a topographic constriction called Eagle Head and then connects with Desert Lake Playa (Figures 6 and 7). From the playa, the trail goes to other sacred features to the north and south [14]. Nuvagantu or Mount Charleston to the south, in the Spring Mountains the primary origin mountain range for Southern Paiute peoples, and Coyote’s Jar, or Pahranagat Valley to the north, a second origin location for Pahranagat and Moapa Paiutes, indicate a significance of the area tied to the oral histories of Native American people [16]. Visiting representatives identified the playa as the destination place, while others described the trail as a connection to their origin spots.

Figure 6: Satellite Picture of the Desert Lake Playa South along the Pilgrimage Trail from Eagle Head Gap [15].

Figure 7: Places along a pilgrimage trail that both goes to and passes through Desert Lake Playa.

A proposal to improve the Alamo Road, which crosses a portion of the Desert Lake Playa, created an EIA project study area of 322 acres of archaeology inventory and three backhoe trench excavations [17]. Seven archaeological sites were recorded, two of which were recommended as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. This archaeology study documents that the area was occupied from the Middle Archaic to the Late Ceramic periods. Further carbon dating suggests occupation dates of 6970 BP and 2000 BP. The study is important to this analysis because it documents temporally old Native presence in the wetlands that formed around Desert Lake. Ethnographic interviews concluded that Desert Lake Playa is a Culturally Sensitive Area and a Scared Site and should be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places [14] as a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP) under Criterion D: history of yielding, or potential to yield, information important in prehistory or history. The ethnographic study concluded that for a very long time, the Desert Lake Playa developed a lush environment with a plentiful water source for the fauna and flora. As the playa gradually dried, Native American people continued to visit the playa feature, leaving offerings that remain today as archaeological investigations have determined. The connection between the Desert Lake Playa and a traditional pilgrimage trail to the north and south is a critical component of this history of Native American use, as are oral histories about spiritual beings that reside in playas even after the water has gone. Not only does the playa yield information about its cultural uses, but it also holds evidence of climate fluctuations that otherwise impacted the aboriginal communities throughout the broader landscape. The playa is considered a functional and thus still active portal to other dimensions.

Big Smoky Valley

A single study is useful because it produces ethnographic findings of a people, their culture, and their environment (for more on ethnography see- Agar [18]; Mead [19]). Multiple single comparative case studies become the basis for ethnological findings (for more on ethnology see- Benedict [20]; Lowie [21]). Shoshone tribal representatives were asked to evaluate the cultural importance of resources and places in the southern end of Big Smoky Valley, Nevada [22]. Big Smoky Valley is a north-trending basin within the Basin and Range physiographic province in south-central Nevada. The valley is roughly 567,700 acres and stretches 115 miles approximately 44 miles east of the California/Nevada border, 15 miles northwest of Tonopah, Nevada. The area has been perceived as aboriginal Shoshone lands since the Pleistocene.The environmental assessment of Big Smoky Valley was one of nine study areas considered for the large-scale solar farm to be placed on playa lakes formed during the late Pleistocene [12]. Each proposal focused on a large playa. Tribal consultations and findings were reviewed and approved by tribal government. During fieldwork, tribal representatives expressed deep knowledge of the now largely dry playas, which represented a time when large lakes and wetlands filled the valleys and were the central homes of Native American peoples. Cultural continuity back to the Pleistocene was expressed in each PEIS study.

Lake Tonopah

Central in the interpretation of Big Smoky Valley is a massive late Pleistocene Lake, wetland, river, and stream hydrological system dominated by what is called today ancient Lake Tonopah. This hydrological system supported both complex biodiversity and biocomplexity for tens of thousands of years—possibly since the Pleistocene as did a similar hydrological system centered on Fish Lake Valley and Columbus Marshes to the west [23] (Figure 8). According to their oral history, Indian people forever lived in this productive environment, and it became and continues to be centrally cultural in their lives.

Figure 8: The Big Smoky Valley Landscape and Pleistocene Lake Toiyabe

The watershed of ancient Lake Tonopah extends generally downhill from the north to the south along what is known today as Big Smoky Valley (Figure 8). This enclosed hydrological system is about 62 miles north to south and 21 miles east to west. Prominent mountains and ranges surround the major river, wetlands, and lakes in this watershed. Viewing this watershed anti-clockwise we find Lone Mountain in the southeast. San Antonio Mountains are in the East. Mount Jefferson and Wildcat Peak are high points in the Taquima Mountain Range, which defines the eastern edge of Big Smoky Valley. Round Mountain and Arc Dome are the southern and most visible portions of the Toiyabe Range, which is a portion of the Shoshone Mountains. Ironically the northern portion of Round Mountain is the headwater of the major north-flowing Reese River. The southeast side of Round Mountain contains Peavine Canyon, out of which flows the Peavine River. Royston Hills and Big Smoky Mountains define the watershed in the west as does the Monte Cristo Range in the southwest. Water flows off the slopes of all these mountains and hills, but Peavine River is the prominent hydrological feature today, as it flows down slope along the entire Big Smoky Valley to the current site of ancient Lake Tonopah. This hydrological system was a cultural and natural center in the lives of many Shoshone people for thousands of years.

While many individual resources and historic events were identified as significant in the Big Smoky Valley, this land was especially identified as the Origin place for the Shoshone people [22]. In ethnographic interviews, the Shoshone tribal representatives stipulated that because they have lived in these lands since the end of the Pleistocene and throughout the Holocene (or approximately 37,000 BP), they understand the dramatic shifts in climate and ecology that have occurred over these millennia.

Crescent Dune

Native American lifeways were dramatically influenced by natural shifts, but certain religious and ceremonial practices persisted unchanged. These traditional ecological understandings are carried from generation to generation through the recounting of origin stories occurring in mythic times and by strict cultural and natural resource conservation rules. At the time of the late Pleistocene, Big Smoky Valley was a wetland dominated by lakes, streams, and marshes. One Shoshone elder remembered that wetter, late Pleistocene landscape:

Just up the valley, from talking with elders and stuff, that’s where the Shoshone people started. That’s their Creation point. From there, they dispersed out into the north, south, east, and west. That’s where all the Shoshone came from, Smoky Valley, Monitor Valley. But then again, if we look at the stories, the people and the earth, they talk about a migration over water. We see that when the water skipper brought the coyote back with his little basket full of children that he made, they’re coming over water. Maybe these archaeologists have it wrong when they say that the people walked on the land. In out stories, they talk about coming over on a boat. I guess it would be a boat, if you look at the analogies. Again, we’re going back to the time when the animals talked, they conversed with each other, interacted with each other, and had ability to have children with each other. This is basically the Creation story, what I’m sharing with you. I listen to the Southern Paiute story and they talk about the Ocean Woman. You know, if you look at them, theirs is similar to ours, tied with the water. They’re the same as us. They didn’t come over walking, marching on the land like people think. They came over on the water. So we came over here in the time where this was all under water [22].

Although the climate has shifted, steams, seasonal playas and springs still dot the landscape and Shoshone use of the landscaped adapted to the drier conditions of the post-Pleistocene period. Streams originate in the mountains and at the base of the surrounding mountains and foothills, while springs provide water and luscious landscapes. Water occupies an important cultural role in the lives of Shoshone people. Natural water sources, called gwizho’naipe or life- producing water [24], play a large function in crucial rituals as well as day to day life. According to one elder:

Smoky Valley stands out. The whole valley is connected. The sand dunes and White Mountains stand out. I’m from the mountains so the mountains stand out. I was raised in the mountains so I’m a mountain person. 10,000 years ago, there was a big old lake right here where we’re sitting on [22].

In addition to the now seasonal and perennial lakes and streams, traditional Native American use of spiritual places persist. These include, for example, Crescent Dune, which is located in and around the playa with its own ecology today of pure sand and special plants. In Figure 9, Crescent Dune is viewed along with a large deposit of sand and Indian Ricegrass (Oryzopsis hymenoides), which is an ancient Native American food seen growing around Crescent Dune.

Figure 9: Crescent Dune in Big Smoky Valley

The dune rises above the valley bottom providing both a place of solitude and elevated viewscapes. Native traditional knowledge of sand dunes is extensive, and it is discussed in many of our ethnographic studies including the PEIS interviews of Big Dune on the Pleistocene Amargosa River in Nevada [25]. Dunes associated with Pleistocene lakes are understood as being a topographic feature placed at Creation for spiritual renewal and healing. According to a tribal representative, the Dunes Sing to Native people and convey information needed for ceremony. These dunes have eyes to watch over the land and a voice to share its messages in the songs that it sings and the stories it continues to tell our people ever since the beginning of time [25].

Escalante Desert

The Escalante Desert (Figure 10) is the southern portion of the extensive Pleistocene Lake Bonneville that continuously extended from Idaho to southern Utah [26]. The remains of Lake Bonneville are massive salt flats and the Great Salt Lake of northern Utah. Lake Bonneville filled its component lakes with sand, minerals, and salt which became the bottom of remnant playas like those in the Escalante Desert (Figure 11).

Figure 10: Escalante Desert with Wasatch Mountains to the east

Figure 11: Pleistocene Lake Bonneville with Southern End Filling What is Now Escalante Desert, Iron County Utah [22].

The Escalante Desert American Indian study area was traditionally occupied, used, aboriginally owned, and historically related to the Numic-speaking peoples of the Great Basin and western Colorado Plateau. This American Indian study area extends beyond the boundaries of the study area because of cultural resources in the surrounding landscape. The Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah (PITU) and the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation (CTGR) participated in the Solar PEIS field consultations to represent the cultural interests of Numic peoples. These Numic-speaking peoples have gone on record in past projects and stipulate again here that they are the American Indian people responsible today for the cultural resources (natural and manmade) in this study area. Their ancestors were placed here by the Creator, and they have subsequently lived in these lands while maintaining and protecting these places, plants, animals, water sources, and the cultural signs of their occupation. These Numic-speaking peoples further stipulate that because they have lived in these lands since the end of the Pleistocene and throughout the Holocene, they deeply understand the dramatic shifts in climate and ecology that have occurred over these millennia. Indian lifeways were dramatically influenced by these natural shifts, but certain religious and ceremonial practices continued unchanged. These traditional ecological understandings are carried from generation to generation through the recounting of origin stories occurring in Mythic Times and by strict cultural and natural resource conservation rules. PITU and CTGR have participated in this PEIS in order to explain the meaning and cultural centrality of the plants, animals, spiritual trails, healing places, and places of historic encounters that exist in these lands.

Escalante Desert (Figure 12) is named after the 1776 Spanish Fathers Escalante and Dominguez Expedition who became the first European to document the valley and the Native people living there (Figure 13). The expedition had followed well-traveled Native trails in an attempt to reach the Pacific Coast of North America. They failed, however, in this goal and turned back at the prominent hot spring in the valley. They returned via an alternative set of trails and would document the massive 1780 smallpox pandemic at Hopi on their journey to the northern New Spanish capital of Santa Fe. Because it was a government sponsored and formally approved expedition a gifted map maker was a part of the hundreds of participants.

Figure 12: The Escalante Desert, Utah is Generally Bounded by Enterprise in the South, Cedar City in the East, Lund in the North, and Modena in the West (Google Earth).

Figure 13: Escalante and Dominguez Expedition Map [22]

The Solar PEIS consulting tribes desired to be formally contacted on a government-to-government basis whenever projects or proposed land management actions occur on and/or near the following culturally special topographic places and features such as viewscapes, mesas from volcanic eruption, animals, and cultural plants for medicine and ceremony (Table 2). Points of contact with Euro Americans are remembered for their devastation due to diseases, armed conflicts, the arrival of grazing animals which ate Indian gardens and horticultural plants, and eventually settlement and physical removal from water and land.

Table 2: Table of Type and Names of Culturally Significant Topographic Features and Places

A few of these cultural places and features are indicated in this map (Figure 14) that identifies their spatial relationships with each other. Their temporal relationships are hundreds of thousands of years apart. Some of these are briefly discussed in this analysis to illustrate the heritage complexity of Escalante Desert.

Figure 14: Map of Special Cultural Features Considered in This Analysis [22]

Eagle Rock Ceremonial Complex

Eagle Rock is a translation of a Paiute name for an ancient healing rock. It is visually connected to the Escalante Deseret, which can be seen to the east from a landscape photo (Figure 15). The healing rock is spiritually connected though the Puha energy of the prominent mountain peak nearby, which is used for vision questing and restoring medicine songs. Next to Eagle Rock is Mountain Spring, which is used for bathing and water related plants. Nearby is Sulphur Spring, which is for purification before and after ceremony and healing.

Figure 15: Eagle Rock looking east to the Wasatch Mountains

According to an elder, Indian people came to this location from great distances to conduct important ceremonies. Eagle Rock, a famous doctor rock (Figure 16), was identified by tribal representatives as a key cultural feature in the Escalante Valley. Tribal representatives linked Eagle Rock to places such as Sulphur Springs, Mountain Spring Peak, and Mountain Spring and they thought these areas formed a large ceremonial complex. Tribal representatives described this as a traditional area used by Southern Paiute Puha’gants (shamans) and most likely Goshute shaman to tend to people who were ill and in need of rebalancing and healing. The Puha’gants would conduct complex healing ceremonies that could only be performed in a place of Puha, such as a doctor rock.

Figure 16: Eagle Rock Looking West with Mountain Spring in Background

According to an elder, rain and snow run-off from the mountains to the northwest also flow into the Escalante Valley. It is important from a Numic perspective to understand the hydrological system in this region. The flow of Puha follows the flow of water across a given landscape and connects places, people, and other elements. As water drains from the mountains in and around Eagle Rock and Mountain Spring Peak (each a place with high concentrations of Puha), the water and the Puha flow into the valley, connecting them with places like Table Butte, located to the southeast of the valley [22].

Thermo Hot Spring

These springs have been the center of activities in the immediate area since time immemorial. The hot springs are unique because they are located in the center of a valley instead of lying in a more typical location along the fault at the base of an uplifted mountain range. Thus, the Thermo Hot Springs (Figures 17 and 18) have a commanding view of the surrounding region—a 360-degree viewscape that is even further facilitated by the fact that the springs are perched above the surrounding ground by an estimated fifty feet. The views from this location include the Cricket Mountains to the north, the Mineral Mountains to the east, the Black Mountains to the south, and the San Francisco Mountains to the west. To the north is Sevier Lake and to the south is the southern expanse of the Escalante Valley. For millennia, Indian people have traveled to these special hot springs to engage in a variety of ceremonial activities. These activities include the curing of individuals using both the sulfuric muds and the mineralized hot waters. Other Indian people came to the hot spring to purify themselves before going to distant destinations where special activities such as vision quests or ceremonial balancing activities would occur. The hot springs were also visited by Puha‘gants (shamans) to acquire songs and Puha (power) needed to help their communities.

Figure 17: Grasses atop Thermo Hot Springs

Figure 18: Water from Hot Spring Mound

Water from the hot springs is used in healing ceremonies both at the springs and at other locations. Patients would come to hot springs at the instruction of or accompanied by a Puha’gant. Before entering a hot spring, Indian people would speak to the spirit of the spring, introducing themselves, and tell the spirit what type of healing was needed. Indian people have traditionally carried water from hot springs back to individuals who were unable to leave home due to age or illness [27]. Healing places occur at the locations where doctors take patients to conduct healing ceremonies or that doctors go to in order to gain insight into how to heal. Hot springs are recognized as strong sources of healing-Puha that derives from their form and characteristics, such as thermal heat or the location of the hot spring. A Puha’gant is required to facilitate the healing. Powerful minerals like paint and obsidian are used in the ceremony to assist in the healing. Hot springs are places of mixed power. Hot springs, like all water, were created for expressed and varying purposes. They can be embedded in powerful rivers, like the Pumpkin Springs in the lower Grand Canyon, canyons, like those in the Gold Strike Canyon [28], and small rivers, like those along the Virgin River near Hurricane, Utah [27]. Numic elders have stated that hot springs were also used by shamans for ritual purification prior to visiting sacred caves, valleys, or other spiritual locations, such as Parowan Gap. Such purification was necessary in order to prepare the mind and body for a safe and proper interaction with spiritual beings.

Parowan Gap

Parowan Gap (Figure 19) is a portal to the valley and the ceremonial places it contains. Before entering, prayers were made, and permission was requested. These ceremonies occurred because the valley is itself a living being with rights. This valley was a home to people. Like here and there, something attracted people to certain places where they could find medicine or food or things like that. That‘s what all these mountains and flats produced for those people. The times have changed things. Even if it‘s invisible, it changed. And the people start to change their ways without realizing or some of the times, they were forced to change. And the dances, like I said, ask for blessings for more wildlife and plants. They still have those dances [to keep the world in order]. Yeah they had round dances and certain times, like early in the morning, they’d have a sunrise ceremony. That’s when they thank the Mother Earth when the sun is coming up. They’d get a bucket of water and drink a little while they’re praying. They do that with an eagle feather usually. So a lot of Indian people are still very serious about doing those ceremonies, preserving our relationship with the earth [22].

Figure 19: Parowan Gap

Parowan Gap is one of the ceremonial places identified in the valley by Southern Paiute tribal representatives. People on pilgrimage (Puhahivats) would travel through Parowan Gap as part of the ceremonial process to and from areas out in the Escalante Valley. The gap between the volcanic ridge is a place where Puha collects, and it serves as a physical and spiritual transition zone between the Southern Paiute communities and the sacred areas out in the valley. The Parowan Gap trail follows the natural waterways and passes through the narrow and constricted opening in the Red Hills. Narrow spaces such as this contribute to the overall cultural meaning of physical and spiritual trails, especially to the Puhahivats moving along them to reach a pilgrimage destination place [29-31]. It is in these constrictions that Puha concentrates as a result of geological barriers.

A PITU Tribal Representative Explains How Parowan Gap Functioned for Puhahivats

Yeah, this is a gathering place, coming through, this is a main travel route. As a destination they used to stop here; this is where they used to have the houses, right through here and on top. They used to have different places where the medicine men would pray. It‘s a long climb up there. When I was here when I was growing up, I heard that some old fellas a long time ago found some gold up there inside one of the hills up there. Apparently, way in there someplace. They found the gold up there and they took it out and took it home, then came back to get some more and couldn‘t find it. It disappeared. Someone had put the gold there [as an offering]. Yeah, in a little sack or something [22]. Parowan Gap is associated with a Southern Paiute Creation story that explains the existence of a gap in the middle of the volcanic ridge and the presence of thousands of rock peckings and rock paintings (tumpituxwinap) (Figure 20). Places with tumpituxwinap are areas used by religious specialists during ceremonial activities, because these rock peckings and paintings are believed to be derived from supernatural authorship. According to the Southern Paiute Creation Story, the rocks were once people, and they became rocks for the benefit of humanity. The images on the rocks are related to this transformation and are part of the living universe. Southern Paiute people hold strong beliefs that the rocks are alive, have Puha, and spiritual value.

Figure 20: Rock Peckings in Parowan Gap

The peckings are used by religious specialists during ceremonial activities because these rock peckings and paintings are believed to be derived from supernatural authorship. According to the Southern Paiute Creation Story, the rocks were once people, and they became rocks for the benefit of humanity. The images on the rocks are related to this transformation and are part of the living universe. Southern Paiute people hold strong beliefs that the rocks are alive and have Puha and spiritual value.

Discussion

The previous ten ethnographic studies document that playas are culturally central heritage places for participating Native American tribes. The studies also document the cultural connections between the playas, their host valley, and the surrounding mountains that have provided water to the valley bottoms since the Pleistocene. Combining the playas, the valleys where they are located, and the surrounding mountain provide a heritage assessment framework for a holistic understanding of why and how Native Americans are culturally attached to this complex landscape. These study observations are consistent despite cultural and linguistic differences between the eighteen participating tribes.

These ethnographic studies specifically document that a holistic heritage assessment centered on a large playa will typically involve the following:

1. A persistent Pleistocene Lake that is the center of this heritage landscape and the source of the salts and minerals that compose the playa.
2. A residual wetland surrounding the Pleistocene Lake regardless of whether it is shrinking or expanding due to climate shifts.
3. An overflow river that connects places along the playa valley which connects it with other similar valleys during wetter periods but continues to serve as a traditional path for both the normal movement of people and subsequent ceremonial movement. It does this because puha tends to flow along extant and ancient waterways.
4. A large singing sand dune that often existed before the end of the Pleistocene because it was derived from and even older intervals of climate change and glacial shifts.
5. An origin place or mythic time portal located at a self-voiced perturbance such as a volcanic outcrop or hot spring which was defined in the valley or along its edges at Creation for the use of Native peoples.
6. An abundance of animals and plants that have occurred and are missing today like Mammoths and Saber Tooth Tigers but are remember and continue to be a spiritual presence.
7. An abundance of animals and plants that have become increasingly spiritual such as the horned toad as the valley becomes dryer.

A tribal representative from Pahrump and Timbisha, during the Amargosa River PEIS study [25,32] provided an understanding of the cultural meanings associated with playas and their surrounding heritage landscapes. These are paraphrased below:

Geologic resources include a range of culturally significant features such as minerals used as paint sources, salts used in curing, quartz deposits used to make tools, volcanic basalt boulders used to hold the prayers of travelers, mountain tops used for vision questing, and fossil evidence of rivers used as devices for teaching about the past. All these geologic resources are alive according to the shared epistemology of our Numic-speaking peoples. The Creator made geologic resources alive by placing Puha in them when the Earth was formed. Today the geologic resources discussed here in Amargosa River Valley all have a place in the lives and history of Indian people.

Federal agencies are beginning to recognize the presence of Native people in these Pleistocene ecosystems. This is appropriate because the scientific dating of Native people in these areas extends now to about 40,000 BP thus placing people and megafauna and massive wet ecosystems together. White Sands National Monument is such a federal response, and it has illustrated this shift in perspective with paintings of Native people and the animals and ecosystems of the heritage past (Figure 21).

Figure 21: Human & Animals Trackway, Printed with permission of Karen Carr 2024 [32]

Native Americans involved in our ethnographic studies have asserted that the image above accurately represents their oral history of these ancient times. Of importance are the heritage implications of ancient places, animals, plants, springs, and now dry lakes and rivers being celebrated by land managers museums, geoarchaeologists, and of course, the ability of new generations of Native people to be connected with their lives in Time Immemorial.

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