Hopi Dwellings
Architectural Change at Orayvi
The University of Arizona Press
The dramatic split of the Hopi community of Orayvi in 1906 had lasting consequences not only for the people of Third Mesa but also for the very buildings around which they centered their lives. This book examines architectural and other effects of that split, using architectural change as a framework with which to understand social and cultural processes at prehistoric Southwestern pueblos. Catherine Cameron examines architectural change at Orayvi from 1871 to 1948, a period of great demographic and social upheaval.
Her study is unique in its use of historic photographs to document and understand abandonment processes and apply that knowledge to prehistoric sites. Photos taken by tourists, missionaries, and early anthropologists during the late nineteenth century portray original structures, while later photos show how Orayvi buildings changed over a period of almost eighty years. Census data relating to house size and household configuration shed additional light on social change in the pueblo.
Examining change at Orayvi afforded an opportunity to study the architectural effects of an event that must have happened many times in the past--the partial abandonment of a pueblo--by tracing the effects of sudden population decline on puebloan architecture. Cameron's work provides clues to how and why villages were abandoned and re-established repeatedly in the prehistoric Southwest as it offers a unique window on the relationship between Pueblo houses and the living people who occupied them.
Her study is unique in its use of historic photographs to document and understand abandonment processes and apply that knowledge to prehistoric sites. Photos taken by tourists, missionaries, and early anthropologists during the late nineteenth century portray original structures, while later photos show how Orayvi buildings changed over a period of almost eighty years. Census data relating to house size and household configuration shed additional light on social change in the pueblo.
Examining change at Orayvi afforded an opportunity to study the architectural effects of an event that must have happened many times in the past--the partial abandonment of a pueblo--by tracing the effects of sudden population decline on puebloan architecture. Cameron's work provides clues to how and why villages were abandoned and re-established repeatedly in the prehistoric Southwest as it offers a unique window on the relationship between Pueblo houses and the living people who occupied them.
'A skillful example of how to incorporate various types of historical data into analyses of architecture to produce results that can be used in archaeological research.'—Journal of Anthropological Research
'An enlightening study of an important episode in Hopi history. Her interpretation of Pueblo history in light of Oraibi implies that the presence of the U.S. military, missionaries, and Indian agents did not disrupt a process evident in centuries of Hopi history.'—New Mexico Historical Review
‘There is no question that the analysis presented in this book is a significant contribution to the literature. The strongest contribution is its documentation of architectural change within a pueblo village with a fascinating history of factionalism. Even if the particular social history of this village were not so interesting, the book would stand alone as one of the best documented discussions of historic pueblo architectural change.’—Barbara J. Mills, co-editor of Ceramic Production in the American Southwest
Catherine M. Cameron is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado-Boulder and co-editor with Steve A. Tomka of The Abandonment of Settlements and Regions: Ethnoarchaeological and Archaeological Approaches.
