March is Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month, and the Verde Valley Archaeology Center is hosting a variety of events to celebrate.
The center houses over 90,000 ancestral Hopi artifacts from sites across the region. The Hopi, who now reside on three mesas in northern Arizona, claim that their ancestors — the Sinagua — previously lived in the Verde Valley. The Hopi still recognize the Verde Valley as their ancestral territory.
The Yavapai-Apache Nation are also represented in the museum’s Yavapai-Apache Gallery. “It’s important that we’re a vessel for people to tell their people’s stories and to have those conversations,” said Monica Buckle, the center’s executive director. Buckle also stressed the importance of making the contemporary voices of these people heard.
“VVAC has made significant strides forward to amplify contemporary voices of the indigenous inhabitants of the Verde Valley and Sedona region: Hopi, Yavapai and Apache,” Buckle said. “Through cross-cultural collaborations with tribal leaders, advisors and artists, the museum serves as an instrument to tell their stories and time-honored traditions. I am an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and it is an honor to steward the museum’s ancestral Hopi collection, as well as the Yavapai and Apache objects. I have immense gratitude that VVAC is entrusted by these great nations to safeguard and curate their cultural heritage.”
The museum relies solely on donations. Their goal for 2023 is to maintain membership and acquire new members. They always have tour guides available to walk visitors through the museum and spend as much time with them as needed.
Buckle mentioned how surprised and inspired visitors are after seeing the museum and discovering the region’s history. “They’re totally overwhelmed at how incredible of a resource it is for the community,” Buckle said.
On Saturday, March 11, VVAC will offer a lecture on and demonstration of Third Mesa-style Hopi basketry, a technology handed down from the Basketmaker Period. Hopi weavers would incorporate their own interpretations into the patterns and designs of the baskets. Ceremonial baskets are made using set weaving patterns that have not changed since prehistoric times. During the event, Marilyn Fredericks of the Bamboo Clan will share her family collection and its role in her family over the years, and Leslie Robledo of the Reed Clan will also exhibit her baskets.
On Saturday, March 18, archaeologist Dick Ryan will present a lecture titled “Ice Age Arizona: Plants, Animals and People.” The center will also offer the presentation “Chilies & Chocolate: Sweet and Spicy Foods in the American West,” which will explore the cultural significance and history of these foods.
On Saturday, March 25, Ahkima Honyumptewa will demonstrate his woven arts and his continuation of a time-honored Hopi tradition. Ahkima will also discuss the process of replicating an ancestral Hopi textile from VVAC’s Dyck Cliff Dwelling Collection.
