kenuchelover Wrote:
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>
> Going in rough chronological order?

Hee hee, very rough. The order wasn't intentional but as things came to mind...I must have a semi-organized brain, lol

>
> In the case of the Navajo in specific, early on
> they'd picked up lots of stuff from local Pueblos
> (some came voluntarily, some not ), like
> agriculture, religious elements, new medicinal
> plants, etc.

The Navajo don't even attempt to hide that they borrowed alot from the Pueblo. It's totally ingrained in their lore. What is curious is to read their stories and their perceptions of their own tribe pre-pueblo and compare it to how much they've changed over hundreds of years. In some versions, it almost seems that they weren't even human to themselves until they cleaned themselves and became such. Imagining this unwashed tribe (according to their own lore) stumbling along before meeting the Pueblo and contrasting them to the Navajo tribe today is a dramatic change.

>
> Then in the late 17th through early 19th century,
> besides the aforementioned sheep &
> silversmithing & loom style they'd also picked
> up horses, peaches, coffee, & a few guns.

Don't forget flour and, later, commodity foods! Spam out here isn't considered to be something on the yucky side but actually preferred. Massive difference in diets from what was traditionally eaten. It's easier to buy a "Navajo burger" (frybread with a burger patty) than blue corn mush or kneel down bread.
>
> During the late 19th century, they picked up lots
> more guns , and the current clothing style
> (inspired by second hand East Coast "high fashion"
> stuff sent out in by missionary & charity
> relief groups).

Exactly! It's very rare to see the previous rug dress, which was probably adapted from a Pueblo design as well.

>
> Nowadays, you've also got everything from pickup
> trucks to coffee as integral to Navajo life (by
> the time your kids are grown, you can add
> computers & the internet. It's been a while
> since I visited Dinetah, but even then I noted
> photovoltaic panels perched above an awful lot of
> hogans).

Actually, the local coffee shop in Window Rock just opened but yes, you can buy a real cappucino or even chai tea out here. It's a very curious mixture out here. There are areas where, yes, they may have a pickup truck but the family still lives in a hogan and fetches water from a pump down the road. It's hit and miss. Often you'll see a mobile home or more modern constructed home (constructed in the past 30-40 years) with a hogan nearby for ceremonies. Our medicine man has an interesting set up. He has a mobile home with plywood additions built on and a very large hogan right across his dirt drive for it. Personally, I think the hogans are better designed than modern homes. Just last week, my children and I went into the male and female hogans at the museum/zoo here in Window Rock. It was a scorcher of a day but I swear the hogans were infinitely cooler than what a standard home would be!

At the same time, I cannot fail to notice that much of what was prized adaptations of their culture falling to the wayside. My Navajo grandmother has a ranch and keeps sheep. She is very traditional. However, modern economy seems to really be eroding this aspect of their culture. This year, the wool sheared off of the sheep sold for 20 cents a pound. It's so bad, according to Grandma, that she has seen many of her neighbors not even bothering to shear their sheep. The demand for wool just isn't there and who knows how this will continue to affect the tribe if it continues.

> The Navajo are a exemplary example of a people who
> thrive on adaptation.... picking up what they can
> use from folk they meet, and giving it their own
> unique twist. Cherokee have been noted for this
> as well, but weren't half so good at it as were
> Navajo.

The Navajo are definitely very good at adapting...seemingly too good. It seems like almost everything I have read in regards to Navajo origins simply starts around 1100-1300 years ago. Where did the Navajo come from? Who knows and perhaps this is because they have been so adaptable. What was their culture 2000 years ago is not what they are today so it would seem like they perhaps came out of nowhere.

>
> The Navajo are a good case in point. Much of
> their material culture IS different, picked up or
> altered over the last 200-700 years (but see
> further below…!).

Exactly. The amount of adaptation has made them seem like they really did climb out of a hole into this world.

> Makes me think of James Andovasio (of Meadowcroft
> Rockshelter fame).... he testified in the Spirit
> Cave Man NAGPRA case that “because” the textiles
> found with the burial exhibited a totally
> different weave pattern than was used historically
> by local Paiutes, there was “no way” that the
> Paiute could be descended from Spirit Cave Man’s
> people……
>
> Think about this… if your ancestors 9500 years ago
> used a different weaving pattern, then there is no
> way they can be your ancestors….. snicker, by this
> logic, most modern Europeans spontaneously
> generated under cabbage leaves…!

Adovasio should've applied his reasoning towards Europeans. Perhaps he mistakenly assumed that tribal cultures will change over the millenia--probably just as much as European cultures do. Sometimes I wonder if there is a bias towards the tribes because it often seems like they are viewed as being entirely static. His reasoning completely falls apart if you look at the way Puebloan pottery changed in just 400 years. By his reasoning, the puebloans who made corrugated pottery could not possibly be related to the later polychrome potters...


> Sigh…. and some people act like I’m paranoid
> because I keep harping about scientific bias &
> deliberate malfeasance connected with NAGPRA &
> PaleoIndian remains.

I used to think that NAPGRA was wrong and blocking the progress of science. Boy, have I changed since then...There really needs to be some commonsense based standards in dealing with Paleoindian remains. Obviously, the tribes may not have been in that area at the time of the remains but that doesn't mean that another tribe was in the area and it is one of their ancestors. Even beyond that, I do not think that there should be ownership of remains. Call me superstitious or too much of a softy but I feel that irregardless of whose ancestor these remains are, they were once a person and should be treated with some amount of dignity.

> DNA doesn't lie..... and it's worth noting that
> while the Navajo ARE largely of Athabascan origin,
> they've got considerable admixture (some maybe
> dating to right after the Pueblo Revolt, when Hopi
> & other tribes took refuge with the Navajo,
> but most of it likely due to low level admixture
> over the last 500-1000 years) from local Puebloan
> & other SW tribes.

Yep, in fact, there are clan names that are based on this admixture with other local tribes as well as the Spanish within the Navajo clan system. I think that if there is a Navajo clan name saying "Ute Clan"...it tends to be a pretty good indicator that there is some Ute genetics in the Navajo and so on.

>
> Eh, I'd have to look up the studies, but I think
> they suggested something like 20-30% local
> ancestry. So you can tell your husband that the
> Anasazi ARE his ancestors as well, not just the
> Pueblo people's ancestors. And that when Navajo
> traditions say that they originated in the Four
> Corners region… it can’t be entirely written off
> as “myth”.

I think I have read something similiar as well though I can't recall where. I suspect that the Navajo and other SW tribes aren't alone in this kind of admixture either. It would only make sense that other tribes that were neighboring also exchanged not just genetics but bits of their culture as well. That is what simply happens when two cultures combine into a household. It's rather like my inlaws using any old coffee before I moved out here and, now they are grinding Starbucks beans every morning before making that pot of coffee. In a sense, I have made a change by simply joining their family unit by bringing in some of my culture. This can hardly be different today in comparison to hundreds of years ago.

Without a doubt, the tribes also affected their neighboring European settlers as well. One just has to drive through an Albuquerque residential area to see what affect the Pueblo had on the local architecture, lol.

Stephanie



In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil.--Ralph Waldo Emerson