Grasshopper or Grasshopper Pueblo, sometimes called Grasshopper Ruin, was a populated place from 1275 to 1400 CE at what is now

Fort Apache Indian Reservation The Fort Apache Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in Arizona, United States, encompassing parts of Navajo, Gila, and Apache counties. It is home to the federally recognized White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation (We ...

, about west of Cibecue in east-central Arizona in the United States. The settlement was a multicultural community that housed people from

Puebloan The Pueblo peoples are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Among the currently inhabited Pueblos, Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi are some of the ...

, Mogollon and possibly Salado backgrounds, et al. Initial excavations of the "extremely large" masonry

pueblo Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlement ...

found 500 rooms, two smaller pueblos of 20 to 30 rooms, multiple

kiva A kiva (also ''estufa'') is a space used by Puebloans for rites and political meetings, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, "kiva" means a large room that is circula ...

s, hearths, courtyards, refuse dumps, multiple cemeteries,

grave goods Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are items buried along with a body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into an afterlife, or offerings to gods. Grave goods may be classed by researche ...

, and animal burials. There are two explanations for the site's name: one says that the Pueblo is named for a "lame Apache woman whom the Indians called 'Naz-chug-gee' (Grasshopper)" and another story says it's simply a place rich in

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

s. The buildings are located in a mountain meadow at an estimated elevation of above sea level; Salt River Draw runs through the middle of settlement, suggesting the waterway was used as a natural boundary between neighborhoods. The roof of the Great Kiva, built and excavated 1964–67, was found to have been supported by 12 "massive"

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

posts. There is evidence of that some of the pueblo buildings had a second story.

Parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

and

macaw Macaws are a group of Neotropical parrot, New World parrots that are long-tailed and often colorful, in the Tribe (biology), tribe Arini (tribe), Arini. They are popular in aviculture or as companion parrots, although there are conservation con ...

skeletons found at the site are evidence of a exotic-animal trade between the Southwestern region of North America and

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

Turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone for millennia due to its hue. The robi ...

was likely exchanged for the macaws and other Mesoamerican trade goods, including copper bells. The

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

Archaeological Field School was established at the site in 1963. Anonymous donations funded the construction of a kitchen, classroom and student housing at the site (which was leased from the White Mountain Apache tribe) in support of annual summer excavation work. LBJ's daughter Lynda Bird Johnson attended the Grasshopper Field School as a "special student" for two weeks in 1965. Over the decades, researchers studied the site's

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

and lithic resources, floral and faunal remains, human skeletal remains, and pollen profile, generating "many published papers, nine doctoral dissertations, and two masters' theses." The Field School closed in 1992. Other notable archeological sites in east-central Arizona include Kinishba, Canyon Creek, Forestdale, Point of Pines, and Vernon.

References

Further reading