Farming the Hopi Way: Early Agriculture, Cuisine, and Community in Pangwovi and Tuuwanasavi with Stewart B. Koyiyumptewa and Reuven Sinensky
Thursday, June 29, 2023 at 4:00 p.m. MDT
Online Webinar
To outsiders, the arid, sandy, and sparsely vegetated landscape of Pangwovi, the Petrified Forest region of northern Arizona, may seem like an improbable setting for population-dense and long-lived Ancestral Hopi farming communities. Yet, this low-elevation area hosted a surprisingly dense population of farmers for 2000 years and served as a regional population center during three distinct periods spanning C.E. 250-550, 700-800, and 1250-1425 respectively. The earliest period of population growth took place during a prolonged period of environmental instability – nearly 200-years of continuous drought interspersed with frequent hard-freezes during the farming season. Ancestral Hopi farmers, however, thrived during this period, and botanical remains from well-dated contexts demonstrate that these difficult conditions did not prevent farmers from producing enough food for growing communities.
Early Pangwovi farming communities share much in common with first millennium C.E. Tuuwanasavi (Hopi Mesas) communities located 75-miles to the northwest. In each region, early community centers were built on visually-prominent landscape features overlooking arable lands suitable for Hopi-style sand-mulch farming. Yet, unlike C.E. 550-800 communities in regions to the north and east, Ancestral Hopi farmers in Pangwovi and Tuuwanasavi did not build great kivas, even at community centers.
In this webinar, the presenters explore how hard-working Ancestral Hopi farmers leveraged ecological knowledge accrued over centuries, carefully curated drought-tolerant seeds, and simple tools, to flourish even when climate conditions made farming exceedingly difficult. Moving beyond discussions of subsistence and agricultural productivity, they explore the role of farming, cooking, cuisine, and community to the success of early farmers.
This webinar is suitable for lifelong learners from high school students to adults; this lesson is free.
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