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Brief Ethnic and Historical Background
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 June 2018
Extract
The Navahos call themselves “diné” meaning, simply “men” or “people.” All tribes of the Athapaskan linguistic stock designate themselves by a form of this same word, such as “dane, dene, dune, dindje, nde, tinneh, tunne, teni,” etc. The languages spoken by this diversified and widely distributed group, i.e., the Athapaskans, are sufficiently similar in vocabulary, phonetics and morphology, to amply justify the belief that they are descended from a common parent stock. This linguistic family occupies a tremendous sweep of territory from the northern interior of Alaska to Sonora and Chihuahua, more than 4000 miles from north to south.
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- Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1941
References
1 Franciscan Fathers, 1910, p. 23, and Matthews, 1897, Note p. 211.
2 Powell, 1885, p. 54.
3 Cortez, pp. 118, 119.
4 By Turner, the Patent Office Librarian (see Harrington, 1940, Footnote, p. 508).
5 Sapir, 1916, p. 224.
6 Harrington, 1940, p. 506.
7 Sapir, 1936, p. 224.
8 Hoijer, 1938, p. 79.
9 I.e., the “Apaches of Nabaju,” according to the Relacion of Zarate Salmeron, 1626, translated by Lummus, 1899-1900, p. 183; and the “Apaches of Navajo,” mentioned by Benavides in his Memorial, 1630, translated by Ayer, 1916, p. 243.
10 Twitchell, 1911, Vol. 1, p. 49.
11 Benavides, 1630, translated 1916, p. 43.
12 Hewett, 1906, p. 193.
13 Franciscan Fathers, 1910, p. 23.
14 Note, in this connection, the Spanish town named Navajoa, located in the flat country of Sonora, Mexico.
15 Matthews, 1897, p. 211.
16 Hodge, 1895, p. 233, footnote.
17 Zarate Salmeron, 1538-1626, Translated 1900, p. 183.
18 Bartlett, 1932, p. 29.
19 Ibid. p. 30.
20 Amsden, 1934, p. 126.
21 By the Commander General of the Interior Provinces of New Spain, quoted by Bartlett, 1932, p. 31.
22 Viz. the twelve eye-witness accounts reported in the Rabal manuscript; Hill, 1940, pp. 400 et seq.
23 “By the Gilenos” according to Ugarte, as of Nov. 22, 1788; Archive No. 1022 of the New Mexico State Historical Society.
24 Bandelier, 1890-2, pt. 2, p. 338, from Paracer del Fiscal mss. 1676.
25 Bandelier, 1890-2, pt. 2, p. 213, from Bartolome de Ojeda, 1694.
26 Twitchell, 1911, No. 154.
27 Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 412.
28 Bandelier, 1890-2, No. 48.
29 Hackett, 1937, p. 424 from Gachupin, 1750.
30 Thomas, 1932, p. 223, from de Anza, 1780.
31 Stephen, 1936, pp. xx, xxvii.
32 For good accounts of the Navaho origin myth, see Matthews, 1897, and the Franciscan Fathers, 1910.
33 Matthews, 1897, p. 68.
34 Eaton, in Vol. 1 of Schoolcraft, 1854, p. 216.
35 Stephen, 1893, p. 359.
36 Matthews, 1897, p. 219, Note 43.
37 Reported by Mr. Whitman Cross, of the U. S. Geological Survey.
38 Suggested by A. H. Thompson; Matthews, 1897, p. 219, note 43.
39 Matthews, 1897, p. 78.
40 Ibid., p. 221.
41 Amsden, 1932, p. 195.
42 Goddard, 1933, p. 165.
43 Van Valkenburgh, 1938, p. 5.
44 Haile, 1937, p. 2.
45 For a map of the old diné country with some archaeological sites indicated see Harrington, 1940, p. 516.
46 Amsden, 1934, p. 127.
47 Matthews, 1897, p. 141.
48 Ibid., p. 142.
49 Matthews, 1890, pp. 90 et seq.; and Hodge, 1895, p. 225.
50 Matthews, 1889, p. 89.
51 Hodge, 1895, p. 238.
52 Ostermann, Anthropos, 1906, quoted by Morice, p. 489.
53 Harrington, 1940, p. 509.
54 Matthews, 1897, pp. 135, 159.
55 Hodge, 1895, p. 239.
56 Morice, 1906, p. 483.
57 Harrington, 1940, p. 522.
58 Hoijer, 1938, p. 79.
59 Matthews, 1897, p. 9.
60 Letherman, 1855, p. 288.
61 Hodge, 1895, p. 228.
62 Reichard, 1928, pp. 16, 17.
63 Ibid., p. 19.
64 Matthews, 1897, p. 146.
65 Parsons, 1939, gives several specific examples; pp. 963, 1042, 1043, 1057.
66 Boas, 1897, pp. 371, seq.
67 Gleanings from myths and folktales actually suggesting a specific migration of the southern Athapaskans from the north, and even from Asia, are too obscure and fragmentary to be useful. Such, for example, is the “faint” tradition of the Navahos, concerning related peoples, “dene nahodloni” to the north, reported by Morice (1906, p. 488). The Franciscan Fathers (1910, pp. 28, 29) give a myth of the Yellow Knives concerning their trek from what was presumably Asia, involving the killing of a giant. They suggest that the Navaho myth of the giant “yei tso,” whose head is now Cabezon, may be a remnant of the myth of the Yellow Knives. The Coolidges (1930, p. 8), also report a story of the Navaho coming across water, far to the north of their present home.
68 And from the Plains, according to Reichard (personal communication).
69 Amsden, 1934, p. 124.
70 Steward, 1937, pp. 42-50.
71 Strong, 1935, p. 212.
72 Hill, 1938, p. 190.
73 Linton, 1936, p. 347.
74 Parsons, 1939, pp. 1045, 1049.
75 For exceptions, see Parsons, 1939, p. 1049, note; also Reichard believes that Navaho sand painting is derived from Pueblo.
76 Parsons, 1939, pp. 650, 722, 1040, note.
77 Ibid., p. 302, note.
78 Stephen, 1936, p. 329.
79 Ibid., p. 899.
80 Parsons, 1939, pp. 1046, 415, 463, note, 625, note, 957. Also pp. 1039 to 1064, for a detailed discussion of Pueblo-Navaho ceremonial relations.
81 Matthews, 1880, p. 171.
82 Luomala, 1938, pp. 64, 73.
83 Woodward, 1938, p. 47.
84 Ibid., p. 20.
85 Ibid., p. 13.
86 Amsden, 1932, p. 201.
87 Reported by Hackett, 1937, pp. 381-383.
88 James, 1914, p. 15.
89 Ibid., p. 17.
90 Reichard, G., in conversation with the writer. A Salish blanket in the possession of the museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (Leaflet No. 5, 1926), has design elements highly comparable to Navaho.
91 Amsden, 1934, p. 32.
92 Ibid., Foreword, p. iii.
93 Matthews, 1881, p. 375.
94 Amsden, op. cit., p. 32.
95 Ibid., pp. 31, 72.
96 Reichard, 1936, pp. 164-169.