FEWKES] FORMER SITES OF WALPI 585 
THE HAST MESA RUINS 
KUCHAPTUVELA AND KISAKOBI 
The two ruins of Kiichaptiivela and Kisakobi mark the sites of Walpi 
during the period of Spanish exploration and occupancy between 1540 
and 1700. The former was the older. In all probability the latter had 
a mission church and was inhabited at the time of the great rebellion 
in 1680, having been founded about fifty years previously. 
The former or more ancient! pueblo was situated on the first or lowest 
terrace of East Mesa, below the present pueblo, on the northern and 
western sides. The name Kiichaptiivela signifies ‘‘ Ash-hill terrace,” 
and probably the old settlement, like the modern, was known as Walpi, 
“‘ Place-of-the-gap,” referring to the gap or notch (wala) in the mesa 
east of Hano. 
Old Walpi is said to have been abandoned because it was in the shade 
of the mesa, but doubtless the true cause of its removal was that the 
site was too much exposed, commanded as it was by the towering mesa 
above it, and easily approached on three sides. The Walpi which was 
contemporary with Sikyatki was built in an exposed location, for at 
that time the Hopi were comparatively secure from invaders. Later, 
however, Apache, Ute, and Navaho began to raid their fields, and the 
Spaniards came in their midst again and again, forcing them to work 
like slaves. A more protected site was necessary, and late in the 
seventeenth century the Walpians began to erect houses on the mesa, 
which formed the nucleus of the present town. The standing walls of 
Old Walpi are buried in the débris, but the plans of the rooms may 
readily be traced. Comparatively speaking, it was a large, compact, 
well-built pueblo, and, from the great piles of débris in the neighbor- 
hood, would seem to have been occupied during several generations. 
The pottery found in the neighborhood is the fine, ancient Tusayan 
ware, like that of Sikyatki and Shunopovi. Extended excavations 
would reveal, I am sure, many beautiful objects and shed considerable 
light on the obscure history of Walpi and its early population. 
After moving from Old Walpi it seems that the people first built 
houses on the terrace above, or on the platform extending westward 
from the western limits of the summit of East Mesa. The whole top of 
that part of the mesa is covered with house walls, showing the former 
existence of a large pueblo. Here, no doubt, if we can trust tradition, 
the mission of Walpi was built, and I have found in the débris frag- 
ments of pottery similar to that used in Mexico, and very different from 
1Mindeleff mentions two other sites of Old Walpi—a mound near Wada, and one in the plain between 
Mishoiiinovi and Walpi; but neither of these is large, although claimed as former sites of the 
early clans which later built the town on the terrace of East Mesa below Walpi. I lave regarded 
Kiichaptiivela as the ancient Walpi, but have no doubt that the Hopi emigrants had several tempo- 
rary dwellings before they settled there. 
