Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Homolovi State Park, AZ

Homolovi is a Hopi word that means 'place of the little hills' or 'located in a high place.'  Be it little hills or high location, we can all agree that it is, in fact, a place.  Right after we set up camp here, I looked around and thought to myself, yep, those Hopi got it right; it's a place.  A couple years ago we visited another nearby Anasazi site called Wupatki (tall house).  


This is an artist's idea of how Homolovi II looked back in the day.
The day was 600 years ago.  Now, it's just piles of rubble.

The park contains over 300 14th-century Puebloan archaeological sites, the largest of which had 1200+ rooms.  Anasazi (the ancient ones) is the common name for the folk who lived here and in dozens of other southwestern areas.  As implied above, the Hopi claim the Anasazi as their forefathers.  I don't  think there's empirical evidence to support that claim, but I have no problem with it.  They want 'em, they can  have 'em.

The Anasazi occupied this area for nearly 1000 years.  Then they left.  Why?  Where did they go?  The most widely accepted theory is drought and failed crops forced them to leave.  The second-place theory is other native tribes pushed them out.

Typical construction of the time.

There are also many theories about where they went - but I don't  subscribe to any of them.  I know where they went: Italy.  Given all those words that end in 'i', it's glaringly obvious that they were of Italian heritage.  Homolovi, Wupatki, Anasazi, spaghetti, cannelloni, Mussolini; see what I mean?  The Anasazi got tired of the dry conditions and the heat and the raiding tribes and said ,'The hell with it.  Let's go back to the old country and eat pasta and drink Chianti.'

Homolovi is near Winslow, AZ, which nobody ever heard of prior to 1972 when The Eagles put it on the map with their hit song, Take it Easy, which contains the line, 'I'm standing on the corner in Winslow, AZ.'

The visitor center, creatively built of native rock and iron sheet metal
 that has rusted to a lovely deep rich color.

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