Ancestral Sites In
Zuni Valley

Hawikku, Matsakya, Village of the Great Kivas, Hard
Scrabble Wash, Yellow House Ruins, Kiakima, Heshotultha,
A:tsinna, Heshota Yalda, Bma:wa. To a visitor you might have a
difficult time locating any of these places on the Zuni Reservation. But
they are all there. Or perhaps we should say that they were once there.

Six or seven hundred years ago these and hundreds more just like them
were all thriving, populous pueblos and villages. Today they lie in ruins, their
walls tumbled down, their plazas and courtyards deserted, their fields once
green with corn, beans, and squash now covered with wind-blown sand and
bushes and weeds.

Our ancestors who lived and subsisted in these settlements are still among the ruin sites as spirits, and among us when we have our religious ceremonies to bring blessings, rain, prosperity, long life, harmony, and peace.

The Pueblo of Zuni considers archaeological sites to be an important part of the cultural heritage of the Zuni people, and it has passed a tribal antiquities ordinance to protect them. This tribal law makes it a criminal offense punishable by fines and imprisonment to knowingly excavate, remove, destroy, or desecrate artifacts, archaeological sites, and places of sacred importance on the reservation.

The personal collection of pottery shards, whole pots, and other artifacts is cultural vandalism for it rips these items from their meaningful context. Please do not pot-hunt on the Zuni Indian reservation; it is illegal and culturally destructive.