/S SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS NOL. 66 



the nucleus of the Hopi population were augmented, in the seven- 

 teenth and eighteenth centuries, by additions from this and other 

 directions. 



The arrival in the Hopi country of the first clans occurred in 

 prehistoric times, but legends of that event have been preserved in 

 traditions which may be verified by examination and comparison of 

 archeological data. It is possible by a study of the halting places 

 mentioned in legends to determine the migration trails of these incre- 

 ments and to extend into prehistoric times our knowledge of the 

 history of one of the most instructive groups of Xorth American 

 Indians. 







Fig. 82. — Kin-a-a, near Crown Point. Plintograpli by bcwkes. 



The ruin of Sikyatki, situated three miles from Walpi, is generally 

 regarded as one of the oldest of the prehistoric Hopi settlements. 

 All traditions and archeological evidences prove that it was settled 

 before the Coronado expedition in 1540. Legends declare not only 

 that the ancestors of this pueblo came from a region near Jemez, 

 New Mexico, but also recount that before they built Sikyatki their 

 ancestors constructed, on the brink of a canyon 25 miles east of Walpi, 

 a village they called Fire House, the ruins of which (fig. 80), known 

 to Navaho as Beshbito, " Pipe water," are still pointed out in support 

 of this claim. These circumstantial statements can be verified or 

 disproved by archeological observations on the ruin itself or by an 

 examination of pottery found in it. 



