The changing pattern of Hopi agriculture

Bradfield, Maitland

Book

The changing pattern of Hopi agriculture

Royal Anthropological Institute • (30) • Published In 1971 • Pages: [6], 66 , plates

By: Bradfield, Maitland.

Abstract
This source is concerned with three questions relating to land use in the Oraibi valley: 1) what factors determine the location of Hopi agricultural fields? 2) what were the economic and social effects of the dissection of the wash below the village of Oraibi? and 3) what have been the long term effects on the pattern of land use in the valley of the introduction of draught animals and carts and tractors and pick-up trucks? The author answers the questions through a consideration of the topography, climate, soil, and vegetation of the Oraibi area, the Hopi land use pattern over time, and the causes and date of the dissection of the Oraibi valley. The author concludes that: 1) choice of field sites are determined by the availability of water in the form of surface run-off and the capacity of the subsoil to retain moisture; 2) the dissection of the wash below Oraibi was the immediate cause of the split at Oraibi in 1906; and 3) the introduction of draught animals in the late 19th century resulted in the clearing of new fields at greater distances from the village, the abandonment of marginal land, and the concentration of land holdings, a trend furthered by the introduction of tractors and pick-up trucks; the introduction of draught animals also reduced labor demands in agriculture and thereby opened the way for a great increase in sheep herding.

Topography and geology

Recording and collecting in the field

HRAF PubDate

2000