Archaeology Southwest Magazine Vol. 34, No. 1

Issue editor: Aaron M. Wright

‘Iihor kwsnavk (pronounced Ee-hór quisnáh-vick) means “story of long ago” to the Kwatsáan. It is also a Piipaash place-name in the Great Bend of the Gila. This issue of Archaeology Southwest Magazine shares the story of how the Quechan (Kwatsáan) Tribe of the Fort Yuma Reservation and Archaeology Southwest are collaborating to help protect this fragile ancestral landscape.

‘Iihor Kwsnavk: Connecting and Collaborating in the Great Bend of the Gila, Aaron M. Wright

Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Reservation

The Great Bend of the Gila

The Great Bend of the Gila: A Nationally Significant Cultural Landscape (opens as a PDF)

The Great Bend of the Gila: Contemporary Native American Connections to an Ancestral Landscape (opens as a PDF)

National Conservation Lands

Billo, Evelyn, Robert Mark, and Donald J. Weaver
2013  Sears Point Rock Art Recording Project, Arizona, USA. IFRAO 2013 Proceedings, American Indian Rock Art, Volume 40, pp. 1283–1302. American Rock Art Research Association. (Opens as a PDF.)

Breternitz, David A.
1957  A Brief Archaeological Survey of the Lower Gila River. KIVA 22:2–3, 1–13. DOI: 10.1080/00231940.1957.11757552

Hayden, Julian D.
1965  Fragile-Pattern Areas. American Antiquity 31:2, 272–276. DOI: 10.2307/2693998

Henderson, T. Kathleen (editor)
2011  Archaeology at the Gillespie Dam Site: Data Recovery Investigations for the Palo Verde to Pinal West 500 kV Transmission Line, Maricopa County, Arizona. Desert Archaeology Technical Report 2009-6.

Schroeder, Albert H.
1961  An Archaeological Survey of the Painted Rocks Reservoir Western Arizona. KIVA 27:1, 1–28. DOI: 10.1080/00231940.1961.11757620

Vivian, R. Gwinn.
1965 An Archaeological Survey of the Lower Gila River, Arizona. KIVA 30:4, 95–146.

Wasley, William W., and Alfred E. Johnson
1965  Salvage Archaeology in Painted Rocks Reservoir, Western Arizona. Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona No. 9. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. (Opens as a PDF.)

Spotlight: Kwatsáan or Quechan? Aaron M. Wright

Quechan Language Preservation Department

Kwatsáan musician, circa 1870–1912, photographed by I. W. Taber. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-DIG-PPMSCA-08116.

The Kwatsáan Connection to the Lower Gila River, Lorey Cachora

Op-ed by Lorey Cachora and Aaron Wright in the Salt Lake Tribune, 8/18/17: The Antiquities Act was meant to protect Indian history

Bryant, George, and Amy Miller
2013  Xiipúktan (First of All): Three Views of the Origins of the Quechan People. World Oral Literature Series Volume 5. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge UK.

Halpern, A. M., and Amy Miller
2014  Stories from Quechan Oral Literature. World Oral Literature Series Volume 6. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

A Perspective from the Kw’tsán Cultural Committee, Manfred Scott

“About Us” page at the website of the Tribe

Connecting Communities: Quechan Tribe (opens at YouTube)

Ethnography, Ethnohistory, and Archaeology: Triangulating Theirstory along the Lower Gila River, Aaron M. Wright

The Lower Gila River Ethnographic and Archaeological Project

Cocopah Indian Tribe

Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe

Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community

Gila River Indian Community

Pataya

Lower Gila Field Notes – Aaron Wright at the Preservation Archaeology blog

Life of the Gila: The Patayan World – Aaron Wright at the Preservation Archaeology blog

Finding Friends in Low Places – Aaron Wright at the Preservation Archaeology blog

What’s West of Phoenix: Patayan Archaeology of the Lower Gila River – Archaeology Café with Aaron Wright (opens at YouTube)

Forde, C. Daryll
1931  Ethnography of the Yuma Indians. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology Volume 28, No. 4, pp. 83–278. University of California Press, Berkeley. (Opens as a PDF.)

Recognizing Rancherías, Aaron M. Wright

Illustration of a Kwatsáan family and rancho circa 1880. Image courtesy of the Hathi Trust, from Old Mexico and her lost provinces; a journey in Mexico, southern California, and Arizona, by way of Cuba, by William Henry Bishop, 1883 and 1900.

Henry Cheever Pratt sketch of a mixed Piipaash and Akimel O’Odham ranchería in February 1852. Image courtesy of the John Carter Library.

Kwatsáan Voices, Kwatsáan Views, Jason Lee Andrews, Charles Ronald Arrow, Keahna Owl, Zion C. White, and Aaron M. Wright

Focus on the Field Crew: Jason Andrews – Preservation Archaeology blog

Focus on the Field Crew: Charles Arrow – Preservation Archaeology blog

Focus on the Field Crew: Keahna Owl – Preservation Archaeology blog

Focus on the Field Crew: Zion White – Preservation Archaeology blog

In Brief: Indigenous Petroglyphs as Social Networks

More about the project

The Value of Documentation to the Kwatsáan People, Keahna Owl

Pottery and Pathways, Charles Ronald Arrow

Kwatsáan Culture in Symbols, Zion C. White

Bird dancers and singers (opens at YouTube)

About Indigenous regalia and identity (Arizona Republic)

Dreams, Memories, and My Reflections on the Past, Jason Lee Andrews

Audio sample of the Bird Song Cycle (Smithsonian) (also at YouTube)

‘Iihor Kwsnavk: A Sacred Place Central to the Great Bend of the Gila, Aaron M. Wright and Harry J. Winters Jr.

Winters, Harry J., Jr.
2018  Maricopa Place Names.

2020  Óʼodham Place Names: Meanings, Origins, and Histories, Arizona and Sonora, Second Edition. 

More information about these books

Rea, Amadeo M.
2017  Harry J. Winters Jr.’s ‘O’odham Place Names: Meanings, Origins, and Histories, Arizona and Sonora. Journal of the Southwest 59:3, 724–732. DOI:10.1353/jsw.2017.0030.

Preservation Spotlight: The Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, Aaron M. Wright

Why You Should Experience the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site – Archaeology Café with Aaron Wright (opens at YouTube)

Wright, Aaron M.
2018  Assessing the Stability and Sustainability of Rock Art Sites: Insight from Southwestern Arizona. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 25: 911–952. DOI: 10.1007/s10816-017-9363-x

Painted Rock Petroglyph Site (Archaeology Southwest)

Painted Rock Petroglyph Site (BLM)

Download a brochure here (opens as a PDF)

Download a printable visitor’s guide here (opens as a PDF)

Documenting Painted Rock Petroglyph Site – Fran Maiuri at the Preservation Archaeology blog

Volunteerism – Jaye Smith at the Preservation Archaeology blog

Protecting Native Rock Art: Be a Good Guest! – Kirk Astroth at the Preservation Archaeology blog

Back Sight, William H. Doelle