The Tantalizing Mystery of the Sinagua

By M. Saldivia-Berglund, PhD | Sedona.biz

Sedona, AZ - If you move to Northern Arizona or just come to enjoy a vacation, you will certainly hear about the ancient culture known as the “Sinagua.” Who were they? When did they live? Why did they disappear?

The first known settlements by Sinagua people go back to 500 A.D.  No one knows why they abandoned their settlements about 100 years before the first Spanish explorers came to the region.

The Sinagua—also called “Western Anasazi”—populated the area that spreads from what today is known as Flagstaff to the Verde River Valley between 500-1300 A.D.

The actual language that the Sinagua spoke is unknown and so we don't what they called themselves.  In any case, the Sinagua are assumed to be the ancestors of the present day Hopi nation.

So how did they get a Spanish name such as “Sinagua?”

The name “sinagua” is compounded by two Spanish words: “sin” which means “without” and “agua” with means “water.” In the late 1920s archaeologist Harold Colton took the term from a chronicle in which it was recorded that Spanish explorers called the highlands around Sunset Crater “Sierra Sin Agua” (Highlands Without Water).

Colton also differentiated two Sinagua groups. One group was identified as the Northern Sinagua in Flagstaff which comprised Walnut Canyon National Monument, Wupatki National Monument, and Elden Pueblo. The other group was the Southern Sinagua who were located in the Verde Valley where Montezuma’s Castle, Montezuma's Well, Tuzigoot National Monument, Palatki Archaeological Site and the V-Bar-V Petroglyph Site are located.  All these sites are open to the public today for their appreciation and enjoyment.

The area in which the Northern Sinagua settled was a high broad plateau that over a period of two million years had repeatedly been a site of volcanic activity. According to geologic studies, earthquakes were often felt and a massive volcanic eruption occurred in 1064. This violent eruption created a new cinder cone one thousand feet high now called Sunset Crater. This eruption is considered a key event in the history and evolution of the Sinagua people.

That is why the Sinagua culture is typically divided into two major periods: the Pre-eruptive that goes more or less from 500 to 1064 A.D.; and the Post-eruptive from 1065 to the late 1300s or early 1400s.  One of the fascinations with this ancient culture is its ability to adapt to a constantly changing environment.

During the Pre-eruptive period, the Sinagua built pit house structures of logs, sticks and mud, partially underground. They raised crops, hunted game and gathered seeds and nuts which supplied their diet. After the eruption of Sunset Crater, radical landscape and climate changes altered their lives. They were forced to move from their previous settlements and built new homes, particularly along washes, to resume their life. They also constructed more elaborate masonry structures and took advantage of large natural boulders and ledges.

During this Post-eruptive period there were significant population shifts among the Sinagua and neighboring unrelated Indian cultures. This mobilization of different groups brought them into contact, increasing the trade of goods and the exchange of ideas.

Artifacts such as pottery and jewelry provide evidence of this cultural exchange with groups such as the Anasazi in the north, the Cohonino in the west, and the Hohokam in the south.  Viewed through our contemporary eyes, we can say that the Sinagua were perhaps one of the most “cosmopolitan” groups of the Southwest. Intermarriage with other cultures was widely practiced, and both men and women married people from other groups.

Archaeologists and anthropologists have been able to describe some of the Sinagua rituals and ceremonies through the study of their remnant artifacts, petroglyphs, and comparative studies with other indigenous groups, especially with Hopi Indians. One interesting aspect of Sinagua rituals is that they are closely related to the flora and fauna of the areas they inhabited. For instance, they learned the properties of many wild desert plants for their medicinal and practical use.  Among the most useful ones was the yucca plant. The stems and branches were used for fiber; the flowers and fruits for food, and from the roots they made soap.

The Sinagua also practiced well-organized communal hunting ceremonies for different purposes. Interestingly, behind the ceremonial communal hunting led chiefly by men, they worshiped a goddess, Tihkuyiwugti, the mother of the antelope deer, mountain sheep and rabbits.

Another of the mysteries surrounding the Sinagua is related to domesticated agricultural practices. Some recent research favors the idea that immigration of already agricultural people from as far as Mesoamerica introduced maize, beans and squash into the Southwest cultures, and even tobacco and cotton.

In their late period, the Sinagua also excelled in architectural projects.  For example they built efficient irrigation ditches to maintain their crops. Today a visitor can admire some irrigation ditches in the area of Montezuma’s Castle.

What is most striking is the Sinagua's ability to adapt to a harsh environment and mix freely with other cultures. They tamed nature around them without destroying it, and in a peaceful and gentle manner they took complete advantage of their environment from the rocks and boulders, to water sources, to the flora and fauna.

Perhaps their peaceful life style and harmonious interaction with the environment and other cultures can serve as a model for today.

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