Marc Steuben

Enter Kawestima

The Hisatsinom people mastered farming in the canyons, which enabled them to flourish in this high desert environment. They hunted wild game and grew corn, beans, squash, and cotton. With nourishment secured, they were able to build these architectural wonders.

Marc Steuben

Looking Back Inside Betatakin/Talastima

They shaped the soft sandstone and collected water in pottery vessels to make mortar for bonding the sandstone blocks together. It required great effort to bring the building materials up to the alcove, using only hand-toe holes carved into the cliff face. At the same time, they had to tend their fields, hunt, and produce their daily use wares, including pottery, arrow points, and clothing.

Marc Steuben

Kiva on Main Street in Keet Seel/Kawestima

It was here that various clans developed ceremonies that they took with them, eventually, to the Hopi mesas after they left.  Prayers and offererings continue to be important to Pueblo peoples today.  Ceremonies for rain--so that crops can matrue for harvest--and prayers are central to Pueblo lives and are communal.  Hopi elders continue today to make pilgrimages to these ancestral villages.