View source for Sinagua

{{short description|Pre-Columbian culture in Arizona, US}}
{{for|the closed high school|Sinagua High School}}
[[Image:Sinaguan vbarv.JPG|thumb|Sinagua petroglyphs at the [[V&nbsp;Bar&nbsp;V Heritage Site]]]]

The '''Sinagua''' were a [[pre-Columbian]] culture that occupied a large area in central [[Arizona]] from the [[Little Colorado River]], near [[Flagstaff, Arizona|Flagstaff]], to the [[Verde River]], near [[Sedona, Arizona|Sedona]], including the [[Verde Valley]], area around [[San Francisco Mountain]], and significant portions of the [[Mogollon Rim]] country,<ref name=logan>{{cite web|title=Sinagua|url=https://www.beloit.edu/logan_online/exhibitions/virtual_exhibitions/north_america/southwest/sinagua/sinagua.php|website=Logan Museum of Anthropology|publisher=Beloit College}}</ref><ref name=nau>{{cite web|title=The Sinagua|url=http://www2.nau.edu/d-antlab/Soutwestern%20Arch/Sinagua/sinagua.htm|publisher=Anthropology Laboratories of Northern Arizona University|accessdate=17 November 2015}}</ref> between approximately {{CE|500 and 1425|link=yes}}.

Since fully developed Sinagua sites emerged in central Arizona around 650 CE, it is believed they migrated from east-central Arizona, possibly emerging from the [[Mogollon culture]].<ref name=gibbon/>

==Name==
The name ''Sinagua'' was coined in 1939 by [[archaeologist]] Harold S. Colton,<ref name=gibbon>Gibbon 770</ref><ref name=linoff>{{cite web |last1=Linoff |first1=Lindsay |title=The Sinagua People of Montezuma Castle |url=http://www.mesacc.edu/~thoqh49081/StudentPapers/sinagua.html |publisher=Mesa Community College |accessdate=12 April 2020 |date=1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412234041/http://www.mesacc.edu/~thoqh49081/StudentPapers/sinagua.html |archive-date=12 April 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref> founder of the [[Museum of Northern Arizona]], from the Spanish words ''sin'' meaning "without" and ''agua'' meaning "water",<ref name=linoff/> referring to the name originally given by Spanish explorers to the [[San Francisco Peaks]] near Flagstaff, the "Sierra Sin Agua". The name reflects the surprise the Spanish felt that such large mountains did not have perennial rivers flowing from them, as is common in Spain.

==Cultural phases==
[[File:Box Canyon wall.jpg|thumb|Lomaki Ruins, [[Wupatki National Monument]]]]
Colton also distinguished between two different Sinagua cultures. The Northern Sinagua were loosely centered in the highlands around Flagstaff, with [[Walnut Canyon National Monument]], [[Wupatki National Monument]], and [[Elden Pueblo]] the best-known publicly accessible sites. The Southern Sinagua inhabited lower elevations across the Verde Valley of central Arizona; [[Montezuma Castle National Monument]], [[Montezuma Well]], [[Tuzigoot National Monument]], [[Palatki]] and [[Honanki]] Archaeological Sites, and the [[V&nbsp;Bar&nbsp;V Heritage Site]] are notable localities open to the public.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! North Sinagua !! Dates !! Southern Sinagua !! Dates
|-
| [[Cinder Park]] || 650–750 CE || Hackberry || 650–800 CE
|-
| Sunset || 700–900 || Cloverleaf|| 800–900
|-
| [[Rio de Flag]] || 900–1066 || Camp Verde || 900–1150
|-
| [[Angell-Winona]] || 1066–1100 ||   ||
|-
| Padre || 1100–1150 || 1100–1150 ||
|-
| [[Elden Pueblo]] || 1150–1250 || [[Honanki]] || 1150–1300
|-
| [[Turkey Hill site]] || 1250–1300 ||  ||
|-
| Clear Creek || 1300–1400 || [[Tuzigoot]] || 1300–1400<ref name=gibbon/>
|}

==Subsistence==
The Sinagua economy was based on a combination of [[hunter-gatherer]] foraging and [[subsistence agriculture]]. They hunted a variety of game from antelope, bear, rabbit, to turtles and ducks.<ref name=linoff/>

They used [[amaranth]], [[ricegrass]], cactus fruit, [[beeweed]] flowers, and [[cattail]]s for flour. Sunflowers, [[Celtis|hackberry]] fruit, yucca, wild grapes, walnuts, [[pine nuts]], and acorns were also important sources of food.<ref name=linoff/>

Sinagua farmers cultivated [[maize]] beginning in the eighth century. They learned irrigation techniques from their southern [[Hohokam]] neighbors and added beans and squash to their crops.<ref name=linoff/> The 1064 and 1066 eruptions of [[Sunset Crater]] covered the area in ash, which greatly enriched the soil for farming.<ref name=logan/><ref name=g771>Gibbon 771</ref>

Around 700 CE, they became active in the region's long-distance trade which reached the [[Gulf of California]] and [[Mesoamerica]]. They traded their baskets and woven cotton cloth for copper, [[macaw]]s, marine shells, salt, and rare pigments.<ref name=nau/><ref name=linoff/>

==Settlements==
Early Sinagua sites consist mostly of large [[pit house]]s, similar to the ones built by the [[Hohokam]] people of southern Arizona, and wooden buildings.<ref name=logan/> Later structures more closely resemble the [[pueblo|Pueblo architecture]] practiced by other contemporaneous [[Prehistoric Southwestern cultural divisions|cultural groups]] occupying the [[southwestern United States]].

Besides ceremonial [[kiva]]s, their pueblos had large "community rooms" and some featured ballcourts and walled courtyards, similar to those of the [[Hohokam culture]].<ref name=logan/><ref name=nau/><ref name=gibbon/>

The last known evidence of Sinagua occupation for any site comes from [[Montezuma Castle National Monument|Montezuma Castle]], a limestone [[cliff dwelling]] by [[Beaver Creek (Arizona)|Beaver Creek]] in Verde Valley. This 65-room structure was believed to be built by Sinagua women between 1100 and 1350 CE.<ref name=linoff/>

==Art and material culture==
[[File:Sinew wrapped split feathers on Sinagua arrow.jpg|thumb|Close view of the sinew wrapped split feathers on a Sinagua arrow mainshaft from [[Montezuma Castle National Monument|Montezuma Castle]]|400px ]]
Known as Alameda Brown Ware, their plain pottery was built using the [[paddle-and-anvil]] method. Their clay was grey or brown, [[Temper (pottery)|tempered]] with crushed potsherds, and painted with buff, brown, and red slips.<ref name=logan/>

They carved with imported red argillate.<ref name=nau/>

==Migration and cultural shifts==
Sinagua peoples left the Verde Valley by the early 15th century.<ref name=linoff/> Like other pre-Columbian cultures in the southwest, the Sinagua apparently abandoned their permanent settlements around this time, though the precise reasons for such a large-scale abandonment are not yet known; [[resource depletion]], drought, and clashes with the newly arrived [[Yavapai people]] have been suggested.<ref name=linoff/>

==Descendants==
Several contemporary [[Hopi]] clans trace their ancestry to immigrants from the Sinagua culture, who they believe left the Verde Valley for religious reasons. [[Pima people|Pima]], [[Tohono O'odham]], [[Yavapai people|Yavapai]], and [[Zuni people|Zuni]] also potentially have cultural, linguistic, and historical connections to the Sinagua people.<ref name=montezuma>{{cite journal|last1=O'Brien|first1=Melanie|journal=Federal Register|date=1 April 2015|volume=80|issue=62|title=Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Montezuma Castle National Monument, Camp Verde, AZ|pages=17,477–17,479|url=http://www.nps.gov/nagpra/FED_NOTICES/NAGPRADIR/nic1947.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614011306/http://www.nps.gov/nagpra/FED_NOTICES/NAGPRADIR/nic1947.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 14, 2015|accessdate=17 November 2015|publisher=National NAGPRA}}</ref>

Melanie O'Brien, acting manager of the National [[NAGPRA]] Program, writes of Montezuma Castle:
<blockquote>Evidence demonstrating continuity between the people of the Verde Valley during A.D. 1125–1425 and the Hopi Tribe includes archaeological, anthropological, linguistic, folkloric, and oral traditions. Ceramic vessels made only on the Hopi mesas are found at the sites and are similar to items made by historic and modern Hopi people. Additionally, plain woven and painted textiles, coiled basketry, and woven matting are similar to items made and used by modern Hopi people. Living Hopi clan members also have ancestral names and traditional stories about specific events and people at each site.<ref name=montezuma/></blockquote>

== Cliff dwellings of the Sinaguas ==
{{Gallery
|title=Cliff dwellings of the Sinaguas
|width=180px
|height=200px
|align=center
|File:Camp Verde- Montezuma Well-1.JPG|[[Montezuma Well]] is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, reference #66000082.
|File:Camp Verde- Montezuma Well-3.JPG|Cliff dwellings of the Sinagua people.
|File:Camp Verde- Montezuma Well-2.JPG|Close up view of the cliff dwellings of the Sinagua people.
|File:Camp Verde- Montezuma Castle-Display.JPG|Diorama showing how the pre-Columbian Sinagua people may have lived in Montezuma Castle,
|File:Camp Verde- Montezuma Well-Sinagua pit house ruins-1.jpg|Sinagua [[pithouse]], from 1050 CE. Two largest holes in the dirt floor held the timber roof supports. The holes around the edge reveal the outline of the structure.
|File:Camp Verde- Montezuma Well-Ruins of a Sinagua home-1.JPG|Ruins of a Sinagua house.
|File:Sinagua historic.jpg|Historic view of the Sinagua cliff dwelling at [[Montezuma Castle National Monument]], 1887
}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Gibbon|editor1-first=Guy|title=Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia|date=1998|publisher=Taylor & Francis|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofpre0000unse/page/770 770]|isbn=978-0815307259|url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofpre0000unse/page/770}}

==See also==
* [[Desert farming]], present-day applications of non-irrigated farming by Native Americans of the southwestern United States
* [[Ancient Pueblo peoples]]
* [[Hohokam]]
* [[Mogollon culture|Mogollon]]
* [[Oasisamerica]]

==External links==
{{Commons category|Sinagua}}
{{Americana Poster|Cliff-Dwellers}}
* [http://www.beloit.edu/~museum/logan/southwest/sinagua/introduction.htm Logan Museum – Ancient Cultures of the Southwest]
* [https://www.nps.gov/moca/index.htm Montezuma Castle National Monument]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20051118201730/http://www.redrockcountry.org/recreation/cultural/palatki-ruins.shtml Palatki Archaeological Site]}}
* [http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/swpottery/PubArch/SSBib.htm Selected, Annotated Bibliography of Southern Sinagua Archaeology]
* [http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/tuzigoot/national_monument.html Tuzigoot National Monument]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19970419014046/http://www.nps.gov/wupa/ Wupatki National Monument]

{{Indigenous People of AZ}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinagua}}
[[Category:Sinagua| ]]
[[Category:Native American history of Arizona]]
[[Category:Native American tribes in Arizona]]
[[Category:Oasisamerica cultures]]
[[Category:Archaeology of the United States]]
[[Category:Pueblo peoples]]
[[Category:Pre-Columbian cultures]]