Episode 6: The Hisatsinom Hilltop Sites of the Verde Valley | Arizona (HD) 

I'm half Pueblo native from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in New Mexico and Seneca, and born into the turtle clan of the Iroquois from the Cattaraugus reservation, they're tribe is considered the keepers of the western door, in upstate NY by buffalo. But I just returned back from visiting my dad's Rez and I'm amazed at certain things in other tribes and even tho their thousands of miles away from the hopi , the Seneca also believe the turtle in planting himself to give us land after the great flood. My mom's tribe where I'm enrolled in Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, born into the summer clan. But we too also believe that the turtle motherland.

I am very happy to see these ruins being protected. I as a young girl explored many of these place while being taught to leave everything as found and respect them. You can feel the history of the ancestors there. It angrily bothers me to see graffiti on the walls. View admire and wonder but leave untouched.

I went to oak Creek valley ranch School back in '78, close to cottonwood, and Sedona, it was a private school, I had a rented horse, and I rode all around the area, I seen a few Rock structures, I met an Indian that had a mule and lived out by himself on the land. I am Cherokee myself. This old man was very fascinating to my young self, I don't know if he was a shaman or a medicine man, but he had all the accouterments, he was very very spiritual, in the few months I knew him he left a lasting impression on me.

My ancestry is Choctaw. Having spent time exploring landscape of the Verde Valley during my 10 years of residence there (2011-2021) this beautifully done presentation took me back to pleasant memories of that area. A spiritual place for those in tune. Fascinating history and intriguing landscape. Viewing the night sky from high mesa areas could be breathtaking on crisp clear nights! Sometimes the moonless “star-shine” illuminated the desert landscape! When you really look around it’s evident that the Verde Valley was widely populated by the ancient ones.

The first site (Howato) of the flying shield thank you for saving this wonderful place there are wonderful stories of this place of our Home my people Hopis

I’ve never heard of these monuments, locations, this historical tribe with relationship to Hopi. Learning about these cultures is perhaps the best we, non land owners, can do to respect them.

They grew all their crops on the top of the Mesa! When they were planting harvesting or pulling weeds they had built shelters to eat in the mid part of the day and two shelter themselves from the sun when they were not active! Also maybe one guardian would live there during the growing season to keep the crows from pecking the corn seeds out of the ground and to keep the animals from eating the plants such as rabbits!

Please make more of these programs.a person can learn a lot thank you from Texarkana Texas...

I'm so glad this video popped up! We once walked from Verde Hot Springs, along the river, then all the way to a ranch outside Camp Verde, 45 years ago, in June. No maps back then... Having drones nowadays is so helpful to find places ! Thanks for your respectful presentation💎

Thank you! I really enjoyed your video! I lived in Rimrock and worked in Camp Verde from 11-89 to 5-95. I should have never left! Beautiful area! There were places around Rimrock and Lake Montezuma area that you could see ancient ruins on top of various small mesas there. Im now thinking they were related to the major sites, shown here. The construction and materials look much alike. My favorite place to visit there was Montezuma's Well. My best friend and i walked back and around following the canal system built si long ago and enjoyed taking our shoes off and sitting with our feet dangling in the refreshing water of the ancient canal. We were there with several other visitors and were entertained with talk from the park ranger about the ancient site. It was a unique and now special memory.

I am so thankful for your video. In the 90's, I always drove or flew to stay w/The Graham Family in Cornville, AZ. Son Pete would show me the area. Like Sedona, Montezuma castle, Camp Verde (where his auntie and uncle lived too), Jerome, the creeks, slide rock. What beautiful memories for me. I think they all, but one, died including Bob, Betty and Grandma. God bless that sweet and beautiful family and where they moved to (from San Bernardino to Cornville).Now they're gone.

We visited the new Verde Valley Archaeology Center museum, and we were favorably impressed. It is definitely worth the trip.

I really enjoyed going to Arizona and walking around archaeological sites

The Verde River Valley is such a promising agricultural area. No wonder humans settled there early. This presentation contains fascinating information.

Excellent quality production. Amazing views with great context and perspective. Great presentations. Thanks. What more could we have seen if it wasn't for past looters and vandals (lesser evolved humans).

I used to live in the Verde Valley. Nice to see my old neighborhood.

Wish i could visit that site, it must be really moving to be there.

I think those spiral designs on the rock represent portals that are 'easier' to access when on top of those hills, close to the sky, as well as into the earth below

Awesome presentation! Scenery and structures are great w good quality views!

I absolutely love that area it sure beats Columbus Ohio, the desert 🏜️ is the best place on earth, I did a fire season at tonto national Forest stationed at Roosevelt lake 1999 to 2000 living in parks ,Flagstaff and Kingman a huge part of my life, my dad and grandma first moved to Kingman in like 74 then another grandma and grandpa in 77 maybe 78 then me my mom and 2 brothers, I have explored so much of northern Arizona and surrounding areas , we used to hike down Verde river were it starts in paulden for a week hike usually stopping at bear sightings and go cliff diving, there are cliff dwellings there as well we found pottery arrows and even old tin toys so much fun I'm about to start crying I miss Arizona, my daughter and children are still in Kingman. ❤who knows maybe I'll see it again and or even be buried there in a an old barrel thrown in lake Mohave or lake Meade lol just joking, nonetheless thank you for this video and everything you do to preserve beautiful history

Thanks for the in-depth tour of the Verde Valley area. This is a favorite vacation area for us, and we have been to Tuzigoot many times. The video through the cavates was fascinating and some place I would never be able to go. Thank you!

My dad grew up in the Verde Valley area, so I've always had a special interest. I found your video both informative and fascinating. Thank you!

Such good work! Thank you!

That was very interesting thank you for sharing.

Nice that this is called 'Turtle Island'. It makes sense. The Verdi Archeaology Museum is absolutely fantastic. Thank you.

Thanks, absolutely beautiful

Great to here of the progress in preservation of this vital heritage. Thanks and well done. John from Pennsylvania ♒

Made me homesick.

Awesome presentation. Glad some of that is protected. We owe...👍😎🇨🇦🐢

Well done!

What a site. Living there you could see trouble coming from a long way off. It is hard to imagine owning this property and even considering building on it and leasing the ruins to looters. What a great human being. Laws or no laws...you heart should have all the laws it needs to make thoughtful decisions. Thankfully these sites are being preserved untouched. I used to love visiting Bandelier in NM. Walking along the paths of the dwellings, which are carved into volcaninc tuff, you can imagine children scampering amonng the volcanic pillars, paths and coveyholes. I was able to climb up to the Alcove House, which I think is now closed due to an accidental death. Hard to imagine carving out a life in such a harsh enviroment.....and doing it well.

Very nice presentation.

If u visit, it's really close to Sedona, one of the most beautiful places in the USA. Visit Jerome it's a nice town with an interesting story. My mom was born and raised there.

Very interesting

There was a history of the Colorado River flooding regularly east toward Prescott! In the Grand Canyon have been several natural dams that eroded away and restored the River's natural flows. Yes, there was water in Yavapai County at one time. All the "history" we white eyes recognize is very brief and recent. These were ancient people and Aridzona was Way, WAY Different back then.

Thorough. Cool.

Like many sites in the SW the real work of quarrying and moving the rock is done! The walls just need to be rebuilt and reroofed and the place is ready to move in. It would be nice to see just a few sites in Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon and the Verde River rebuilt/restored.

My siblings and I have a vacation home in Camp Verde, it's beautiful and peaceful but has a sad history for Native ppl.

Well done. Very nice museum, I'd like to see it in person.

we Lvisited area few times since 60's . i biked to many of these sites on weekend trips to rim,. grand canyon twice. . once on loop ,of old volcano sites, i got cot in storm so hid in overhang off road, seeing carving on rock. not sure if have cheap camera shot of. mom phd in native ed. lakota oral lit an set up curiculum for school districts. ie sioux falls, Cebecue, vice prinipal. family friend Richard Erdoe got us more interested in such site. of many books one on south west. last was Lakota Woman. i study all these available vids here to study as . Social Scientist. i Hope may visit as have most musems since moved there 1980.

Fascinating! Are there plans to reconstruct one of the villages like the one featured?

The dominant feature of the landscape is erosion by large amounts of passing water. It backed up in the Verde Valley, and eroded the slopes of the hills, up to the levels of the ruins, all around, leaving scars from lapping water. This is water that sits, like a lake, or inland sea, and slowly drops. There are signs of rushing water, too, nearer the present course of the creeks and river courses. I believe these were forerunners of the Anasazi, perhaps pushed out of the Four Corners area by the 300-mile-diameter inland sea that occupied that area for a millennium or more. The Anasazi moved into this area, as the waters were beginning their 500-year (or longer) retreat. I can show you where the waters entered the Verde Valley, and the area of the Four Corners, extending from the San Francisco peaks to the Sierra Nacimiento Mountains, in New Mexico, from the "saddle", at the eastern end of the Uintah Mountains, down to the Mogollon (muggy-yohn, with a short-o sound in the first syllable) Rim, where it splashed over, and over to Pie Town, in NM, some exiting through the gap north of Mt Taylor, and south of Espanola, into the Rio Grande Valley, until that elevation of the saddle in that location cut off eastern flow. The obsidians, and the lava rocks were washed down, by these waters, part of a much larger body probably on the order of 500 billion acre-feet of water, that started in central Wyoming, flooded across western Colorado and eastern Utah, before reaching stasis in the Four Corners, what couldn't splash over the Rim, or west, through the gap at Paria UT. That "sea" sat for more than two millennia, as it ate out an escape route, one we all know and love. The "Anasazi" arrived as water levels were still high, but beginning to recede from their highest levels. When the water finally drained away, down the few rivers available to them, the Anasazi moved on. I believe they'd already scouted new horizons, better opportunities, so those "legends" of vile deeds at Chaco are probably about the people who stayed behind, too lazy, or stupid, to move. We see the same thing in humans, today. I believe the Fremont people were the forerunners of the Sin Agua and Anasazi peoples, the first "explorers" of the new continent, in the west, and the first settles, probably around the time of the first Golden Age of Greece, circa the 15th-12th Centuries BC. These people clung to the ridges and mountain tops peaking out of the water. As the waters receded, they moved down, into caves carved out that those waters, eventually coming to ground level, then following the waters to new locations, to start all over again. They had no choice, because except for the Colorado, San Juan and Gila Rivers, there aren't reliable water sources in the area. Of course, water was trapped in canyon dead ends and the like, so small groups could stake out those, until they, too, dried up. These are some of my thoughts on a topic I have been ruminating about, since I was very small. I played on many of those ruins as a small child, making my first cross-country trip (NM to CA), in early 1953, continuing to criss-cross the region for the next 13 years, perhaps 100 times, before Interstates, fences, and large numbers of people. Since 1966, I've flown, hang-glided, rafted, rock-climbed, and ultralighted across great swaths of the Southwest, from Albuquerque to Barstow, Yuma to Okanagen, and Las Cruces to Glacier Park. My dad's idea of weekend fun was driving dirt roads across the desert, into what are now National Monuments and Parks, into ghost towns and ruins, not for an hour or two, but the entire weekend. We spent more time camping, until I was 17, than we did living in houses. My dad built roads, and you know where they build them? Where they don't have 'em! I played on Chaco, Aztec, Bandolier, Tuzigoot, Wupatki, Mesa Verde, and Hovenweep, on Sunset Crater, and the Grand Staircase, as a child, before almost any were "protected". The ancient past is a confusing mess, and the stories of the people who became the Native Americans in the West, and the northern states, were "lost" PIE people who started in Alaska, and slowly dribbled their way down the eastern flanks of the then-newly-risen Rocky Mountains. There had been a large inland sea (or one that connected the Arctic with the present-day Gulf of Mexico, or the nascent Atlantic), cut off by the events that stranded the PIE peoples (who became Athabascans, Sioux, Pawnee, Iroquois, and others, among them the Fremont People -- the southeastern tribes arrived via a different route, I believe). The medicine wheels of the Albertan foothills on the eastern flanks of the Rockies are related to the astronomical "observatories" of the Chacoans, the Sin Agua, and the other peoples of the Southwest. That begs the question: WHY were they so concerned about the locations of the Sun and planets? What was going on, that so demanded their attention that they would spend untold hours, days, weeks, creating medicine wheels, and astronomical observatories? Perhaps there was a very good reason, one ignored by "researchers" who ignored the evidence of their eyes; On the hillsides above the river, sloping toward that great black ridge, there are lap-lines, caused by long-standing water that slowly declined, hundreds of feet above the current course of the river. Life for the misnamed "Sin Agua" was likely very different from the narrative that has been staked out for them. They were probably very like any other human, only trapped in a time, and a place, where they had nothing, and, judging by the scars left by the water, nothing was left. It's sorta like those pesky "blind Indian fakirs" who "described an elephant to the Rajah". Something happened, that put the ancestors of the Fremont people on the path from the Brooks Range to the Uintahs. It undoubtedly took the Fremont ancestors hundreds of years to drift from mountain top to mountain top, seeking places dry enough to establish a base, but still watered throughout the year. They wouldn't find it, and, in the 12th Century of our era, their descendants walked away from the towns they'd built, seeking greener pastures, and into the mystery, er, history, books, leaving behind tantalizing clues, but no written record, like their other ancestors, the PIE people, who had originated "somewhere" on the Indian subcontinent, but emerged on the Russian Steppes, some time before 1800BC. Shakespeare said it best, "There is more to heaven and Earth, than is dreamt of, in your philosophy, Horatio". Truth from our past, speaking to another part of our past. ©BW2023 12/11/2023 anarchitek™

HOWATO) IN OUR LANGUAGE MEANS GOING DOWN FROM THE VILLAGE

Turtle Island map overlay is hilarious! As if even the Spaniards had any idea of North America!

Greetings 🙏

Interesting

Cool

None of the tribes or nations would except the ways of the Spanish and it's easy to see why the horses and live stock were ok

Nice, but Chaco was very far advanced, and collapsed around 1000 ad. Drought eliminated the culture. Which seems to be a recurring theme here. The Pimas in Phoenix had much better accesses to water and thus through canals were successful. The Pimas and maybe yavapai, and others were very good at agriculture. As noted by Kit Carson and General Kearney.

So I am confused, at 30:30 they state they were "very anxious to make sure that it was available to our children and grandchildren to see". Then they surround the site with barbed wire and post no trespassing signs. Then they also praise the former owner, Wally, for "Chasing people off". So exactly whose children and grandchildren are allowed to see this site? I very much appreciate what you have done in acquiring these sites. I just wish that I could have a chance to visit them.

#FunFactFriday: Atkeson and Sugarloaf Pueblos were the center of excavations in the late 19th century by pioneering archaeologists who made some pretty amazing discoveries. Along with architecture, tools, and pottery, early archaeologists also discovered mosaic animal pendants at Sugarloaf and Atkeson Pueblos. Read more here: www.archaeologicalconservancy.org/fun-fact-friday-mosaic-animal-artifacts-at-sugarloaf-and-atkeson-pueblos/

I recently read through their origin story (6:00) in the Book of the Hopi.

Watching them act like they are impressed. Place the people who are ancestors who understand and love the accomplishments of their parents.

Are there plans by the Archaeological Conservancy to excavate portions of any of these sites? If so, is there a way for one to reach out and volunteer? I live in the area and have actual experience on archaeological dig sites and know how to take good notes!

Obsidian was aquried by trading with the Hualapie pie people that lived in that area.

I am no expert but these structures look predated to the Mesa Verde, Hovenweep and Chaco Canyon structures although they do have the same keyhole doors. maybe its just the material available. Anastazi structure has layers of slim flat stone separated by larger layers of wider stone.

I believe the location of the structure high above the area indicates a lookout for security and defensive reasons, also communications with other tribes? Access to water would be a limiting factor for long-term occupation; day-to-day living would have to be close to a water source?

watch out for rattlesnakes. And scorpions. Ouch.

Fascinating! This is just incredible. If i may make a suggestion: I appreciate the hard work, and creativity going into the shots. But the camera person(s) really needs some training on how to not make the audience motion-sick. I had to rapidly shut my eyes to keep from vomiting in many of the scenes. From spinning around to view pots sideways, to drone dips, and uneven pans. Lens choice distorting the edges to make them curvy - that's fine, until you move the cam. I can't really watch this - I must listen with my eyes closed...then freeze-frame it to view still images. Nevertheless, I hope to see more!

What’s the original name of the Valea Verde?

Is saying that you are telling a story as someone else WANTS it told is telling the story as the evidence shows?

Hopi claimed it does not mean it's so.! Apache was not native either Geronimo stated his ancestors survived on carabou.

While looking for the light house we all have our heritage in the know how. Now😂

Perhaps the hilltop areas were used when the water levels were very high, such as sea levels...

Nature can be wonderful if we treated fair. It seems to me that valley was part of a huge river ,must’ve been a Great Lake , i’m surprised they didn’t find any evidence of fishing.

what did these ancient people eat and drink? what is the history?

Building on high points for the purpose of sending messages was used by Tolkien, to light the signal fires, a call to war.

You don't have to look far into the past to find the time when hundreds of millions of beavers inhabited creeks and streams and places like this would look nothing like they do today.

I'm just a regular person but I'll go out there and see the equinoxes and solstices! I'm an artist too and would love to paint it.

It’s like Mesopotamia was trying to will itself into existence in a completely different time and place. Agriculture was having fits and starts but the climate didn’t completely allow for it in the American Southwest. Why was the guy who was building a driveway called a “looter”? Did he steal the backhoe?

When Americans decide to magnify our continental water resources with NAWAPA we may be able to save the artifacts from furthur decay. There are no limits to what we can produce agriculturally, industrially or artistically on this continent.

Maybe there weren't elites or ruling families.

Um, withought going into any detail, because the slightest detail would seem disrespectful, i personaly feel that not much changes throughout the ages, but the only benifit i can see is that there is saftey in numbers, i do wonder though who were these people hiding from in their cliff dwellings and mountian top bastion's, native peoples in california would sleep on the ground in the forest or next to a desert lake why just in the south eastern part of their country was there such a serious concern for security i wonder?

Those “rooms” are ancient mines! They really will just pull anything out of their ass as long as it sounds plausible.

The top of that mountain could have been just a big dream house of the Chief or whomever in the tribe who could afford that piece of land or was relegated to that piece of land. The truth is no one knows and some get paid more than others to makes guesses from their own fantastic ideas and some are well educated in the guesses and consensus of agreed upon guesses of others. Hard to believe 1k people could even attend an event on top of that hill let alone live on a permanent basis.

There is a rock structure like these in the bottom of a Wisconsin lake. They call it a pyramid and say it is aztec

You should reconsider Sugarloaf mountain being entirely man made. Kauai Hawaii and the Hopi tribe are connected thousands of years back. The ruins here are megalithic and so ancient they look almost natural.

And so into the NINETIES Arizona was still stuck in the times of the Conquistadors and that attitude?? Where were your Senators at the time?? Oh,......................yeh..........

They don't like being called Sinagua, as you informed me at the beginning of this video, but then you go on calling them that for almost all the video! Why?

Till 1450.... I'm guessing about the time Europeans showed up, and changed life forever

messiou was jesus his st

Please use correct pronunciation. Verde doesn't sound like "ver-dee". It's "vehr-deh". If not, just say Green Valley.

According to the natives and some archeologists,The ruins werent from the Hopi, they were from a much older civilization! They were taken over by the Hopi! The Hopi were brought out of caves that they dwelled in for many a century. Then the star people came and lead them out! Curious to what they were originally used for?

Unfortunately the acoustics in your archaeological headquarters museum is extremely bad! Not only when you talk was there an echo but it was very harsh! We suggest you do something to soften the sound and make the acoustics much easier on the ears! Otherwise this presentation was excellent! I've been to Mesa Verde and many of those sites many times! They're absolutely incredible!

We owe native Americans much. But that is what Europeans do best..

When I go hiking all I see is signs telling me I cant take anything. Be respectful, Dont damage nothing. Leave nothing but footprints. But look who has raped the lands. Even stolen human remains out of their graves. Universities and conservationist.

The hilltops were refuge from invaders, no one would live up there due to heat, wind and cold, religous sites possibly but definitley not places to live. Yiu dont need a degree to figure that out.

ver de not verd or verdy

I guess so. You need someone with proper pronounce cation. And proper knowledge. I am Hopi.

No one lives on hill tops with no water and no one knows who built the rock walls and indian litter around them proves nothing.

Sad so much was destroyed by the Europeans when the discovered this beautiful continent. Brits and Spain... then France... sick The original people we so much better.

Well I watched 14 minutes. I usually watch time team, took Archaeology in college,. But even I don't find it interesting when you just point out a pile of rocks on a hill !!! Especially with such a small amount of information