Navajo rugs, blankets and weavings
Navajo migration southwest - page 1 of 5

Nearly a century of research in the Gobernador region has answered old questions and raised new ones. When did the Navajo arrive in the Southwest? Or, as Navajo oral history suggests, were they here already? When did the Navajo become the expert farmers known to early Spanish explorers? Who built the pueblitos? What happened in the Gobernador over the last five hundred years?

Most anthropologists and archaeologists believe that Navajo people came from the north or central Asia, thousands of years ago. They say that a people they call Na-Dene crossed the Bering Strait during the last Ice Age when there was an ice passage between the hemispheres and arrived in what is now called Alaska. Over the centuries, they migrated south, spreading out throughout Canada and the United States, even into northern Mexico. Among the Na-Dene people were Athabascans and, according to this theory, these are supposedly the ancestors of the Navajo. Somewhere on their journey from the far north, Athabascans separated into two main groups - Northern and Southern Athabascans. Although there is little physical evidence, such as artifacts, for this anthropological theory, there is much linguistic evidence. Even today, similar words exist among Northern and Southern Athabascans.

Athabascan speaking peoples added to the diversity of the Southwest during the late prehistoric period, 15th and 16th centuries. Today the Athabascans are divided into two groups. The northern Athabascan speakers are located in Canada, especially the McKenzie Basin area. This is the area from which the Navajo and Apache migrated. The southern Athabascan speakers are located in the Southwestern U.S.; although there are some descendents, the Lipan Apache in northern Mexico. Athabascan speakers are divided into 7 linguistic subgroups: Chiricahua, Mescalero, Jicarilla, Kiowa-Apache, Lipan, Navajo, and Western Apache, which includes San Carlos, western Montana, Yavapai-Apache, and Tonto. Based on linguistic similarities and differences, it has been estimated that the southern group split from the northern group about 1000 A.D., and the southern groups further separated about 1300 A.D. This was another case of migration of hunter-gatherers into the Southwest. The migration was not one or a few tribes, but numerous small bands. Originally the Navajo and the Apache had no horses or agriculture, but in a few short centuries, their subsistence and social organizations were transformed. Today, the Navajo tribe is the largest Native American tribe in North America, and Navajo rugs are considered superior quality Native American weaves. The Navajos call themselves "Diné" - "The People." When the Spaniards explored this area in the 1600s they used the name "Apache de Navajo," meaning "Apache of the Cultivated Fields."

The group of people known as Southern Athabascans migrated to the south over the course of hundreds of years, according to anthropological theory. They may have traveled south along the Pacific Coast, or they may have traveled through the Great Basin near the vicinity of present-day Salt Lake City, or through the Rocky Mountains or the western Great Plains. The migrations may have taken hundreds or thousands of years. Most probably people traveled in small nomadic groups, living primarily as hunters and gatherers. At some point, Navajos split off from other Southern Athabascans. Some historians believe that Navajos migrated into the Southwest sometime between A.D. 200 and 1300. The earliest definitively dated Navajo site is 1541 A.D. in northwestern New Mexico, near Navajo Reservoir. Some of the other Southern Athabascans went as far south as northern Mexico, while still others were the ancestors of modern-day Apaches, Hoopa, and other tribes. Among the languages of Navajos and Apaches there are many linguistic similarities; and in some cases, there are even similar spiritual and ceremonial practices. Apache Sunrise ceremonies are similar to the Navajo Kinaalda, for example, both being puberty ceremonies to acknowledge the coming of age of young women. Both are based on oral story traditions of Changing Woman. Navajo ancestors may have intermingled with ancient Fremont Indians and with the Anasazi.

Athabascan Navajo migration southwest - page 2

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