The Cohonina peoples inhabited the north-western area of
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
, to the west of the
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile ().
The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
[
] First identified in 1937 by Lyndon Hargrave, surveying pottery for the Museum of Northern Arizona, they are named for the
Hopi
The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...
term for the
Yuman,
Havasupai, and
Walapai peoples who inhabited the area and are thought to be descended from the Cohonina.
They in turn have lent their name to
Coconino County, Arizona
Coconino County is a County (United States), county in the North Central Arizona, North-Central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff, Arizon ...
.
They are thought to have lived between 500 and 1200,
evolving alongside the
Ancestral Puebloans (Anasazi) and enjoying a period of fertility, producing "significant" amounts of pottery,
before worsening weather conditions – arid soils and rain erosion – forced them from their homelands. Several lines of evidence led to a theory that a
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
episode caused a severe
drought
A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
in the region from 1276 to 1299, forcing these agriculture-dependent cultures to move on.
Archaeological evidence of the Cohonina disappears beyond this period.
Archaeological evidence
The majority of the archaeological evidence that does exist consists of agricultural remnants and pottery.
Pueblo I Era period pottery, often decorated, has been found alongside evidence of
maize
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...
cultivation. These pieces are largely constructed using "paddle-and-anvil" methods, with black and grey illustrations, and are found west of the
San Francisco Peaks
The San Francisco Peaks (Navajo: , , Hopi: ''Nuva'tukya'ovi'', Western Apache: ''Dził Tso'', Keres: ''Tsii Bina'', Southern Paiute: ''Nuvaxatuh'', Havasupai-Hualapai: ''Hvehasahpatch''/''Huassapatch''/''Wik'hanbaja'', Yavapai: ''Wi:mun Kwa'', ...
, east of
Aubrey Cliffs, and south of the Grand Canyon.
The area was largely pine forest, and the Cohonina may have utilised wild plants are the mainstay of their agriculture. They also used
obsidian
Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...
to construct arrowheads and for trade.
Construction
According to research by the Anthropology Department at the
Northern Arizona University
Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1899, it was the third and final university established in the Arizona Territory.
It is one of the three universities gove ...
, the Cohonina underwent three distinct periods of construction. Between 700–900, their homes consisted of "deep timber-lined pit houses with rooftop entry and ventilator shafts."
Often these structures differed in material depending on the season. Between 900 and 1100, large walls of stone surrounded Cohonina forts, and masonry has been found in housing dated from this period.
Between 1100 and 1250, residences utilised masonry and San Francisco Mountain Gray Ware stone, though production of this stopped after 1275.
See also
*
Keyhole Sink
Notes
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Native American tribes in Arizona
Grand Canyon history
History of Coconino County, Arizona