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A Massacre at Hopi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Christy G. Turner II
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University
Nancy T. Morris
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University

Abstract

Thirty Hopi Indians of both sexes and all ages were killed, crudely dismembered, violently mutilated, and probably cannibalized about 370 years ago. This massacre occurred on the left bank of Polacca Wash ten miles south of the Hopi villages. The location of, dismemberment of bodies in, and radiocarbon age of this mass burial suggest the bodies were once the few live villagers, taken captive by other Hopi warriors, referred to in the legendary account of the destruction of Awatobi pueblo that occurred ten to twelve generations ago.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1970

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