Hemish Migration, Movement, and Identity

Summary

We examine migration, travel, landscape, and place names as key elements of Hemish (Jemez) identity. Language is a key element of Hemish identity, and place names figure prominently in Hemish historical and cultural discourse. The place names that define the footprint of Hemish ancestral territory are associated with the migration that culminated in the occupation of Walatowa and with pilgrimages and land use that take Hemish people back into areas where their ancestors formerly lived. Jemez migration involved movement from the north to the Jemez Mountains, with a few groups later moving from the Jemez Mountains to areas to the south and back, and finally the entire Hemish population moving from large villages in the mountains to Walatowa. The many Hemish ancestral archaeological sites and trails that mark the landscape are physical expressions of past and present land use that figure prominently in the formation and transmission of Hemish identity.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Pueblo Movement and the Archaeology of Becoming

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14700