Sobaipuri Archaeology, An Introduction

Debate still surrounds whether the Sobaipuri and other O'odham groups are related to the prehistoric Hohokam (ho-ho-KAHM) who
occupied a portion of the same geographic area and were present until about the 1400s. This question is sometimes phrased as the
Hohokam-Pima or Salado-Pima continuum, phraseology that questions whether there is a connection between the prehistoric Hohokam
and the first historic groups cited in the area. A key piece of the puzzle has recently been found when it was discovered that there were
O'odham/Sobaipuri present in the 1400s (Seymour 2004, 2007a). Absolute dates from multiple sites on the San Pedro and Santa Cruz
rivers have produced evidence of Sobaipuri occupation in the 1400s. The position is no longer defensible that no one was present after
1400 and that there was a substantial population decline in the prehistoric period (Seymour 2007c,d). Hohokam populations may have
been displaced by the intruding O'odham or they may have transformed into them, but there is no substantial time gap between
prehistoric and the arrival of the O'odham. Two other groups were present at this time as well:
the ancestral Apache and non-Apachean mobile groups.

Further Reading on the Hohokam-Pima Continuum:
Seymour, Deni J., 2007, An Archaeological Perspective on the Hohokam-Pima Continuum. Old Pueblo Archaeology Bulletin No. 51
(December 2007):1-7. download here (Note: final sentence is truncated and should read: "One thing is for certain: The way we think
about these issues determines how well we will visualize the data necessary to address the answer and therefore how readily we will
be able to find it."

The natives welcomed him with ceremonies, suggesting that earlier missionaries and native converts from Sonora had
prepared the way. If nothing else, the colorful gifts of ribbons and beads, and functionality of the metal knives made visitation
from these strangers attractive, at least initially. At least the Sobaipuri were consummate diplomats and gracious hosts,
showing appropriate levels of courtesy and celebration.

This visit to this first of the Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert north of the current international border made this native
Sobaipuri settlement the first mission in southern Arizona, or the first Jesuit mission in Arizona, but, contrary to popular
notions, not the first mission in Arizona--a role that goes to the Hopi pueblo of Awatovi. This original native Sobaipuri
settlement of San Cayetano del Tumacacori has been located archaeologically on the east side of the river (as shown on
Kino's historic maps), providing evidence of a densely packed, well-planned, long-occupied village (Seymour 2007a).

Kino then stopped by Guevavi (later referred to as Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi), which is located to the south along
the Santa Cruz River. Here he later (1701) established a "neat little house and church" which he ordered whitewashed. The
location of this native settlement and this formal church has been identified and excavated (Seymour 1993, 1997, 2008b). This
native settlement later became the cabecera or head mission for this region. Its occupation survived there until the 1770s. The
church, however, was catastrophically destroyed by fire (before 1716), probably as part of a native uprising, and was rebuilt in
nearby locations two more times.

Contrary to popular belief, the Sobaipuris and Apache were not traditional enemies. The Sobaipuri were initially friendly with
their neighbors, including the Apache and the Jocome and Jano (Seymour 2007b, 2008a). They traded with one another and
they were cited sometimes raiding together. They even intermarried, probably creating the unique character of the Sobaipuri
or Soba Jipuri, sometimes referred to as Soba y Puri or Soba y Jipuri. Later many of them sided with the Europeans which
stressed their relationship with the unconverted tribes because they then went into battle against them.

The last person who self identified as Sobaipuri died in 1932 (Hoover 1935). Others who retained Sobaipuri blood had
intermixed with other O'odham groups and the Apache (Seymour 2007b, 2008a). This is not the end of the story, however.
Many of the people at San Xavier and Tucson were Sobaipuri and so were distinguishable from their brethern farther west.
They lived along the rivers and farmed which was an entirely differently way of life than the more moble western O'odham.
Even their language is a bit different. When Sobaipuri from other areas moved in at San Xavier del Bac the Sobaipuri element
became even more dominant (although groups from the west did move into this area as well, at the bidding of the
missionaries). Despite the dominance of Sobaipuri or river (Akimel) O'odham in the Santa Cruz Valley (which included those
from the San Pedro), San Xavier is considered nowadays to be Tohono (desert, south) O'odham. Yet, it is the colonial
authorities who decided that all the southern O'odham would be part of a single political entity and therefore all would be
considered part of the Tohono O'odham Nation, overseen by a body in Sells. In reality San Xavier is very different, is
composed of people of a different origin and with a different history. Take away this imposed political construct and a very
different image of the San Xavier District can emerge, one of the southern river people whose origins lie in the proud,
prosperous, gracious, and diplomatic Sobaipuri, rather than the docile and obediant converts and servants of the missionary
legacy.

DESPELLING SOME MYTHS ABOUT THE SOBAIPURI

According to Bourke "the Apaches have among them the Tze-kinne, or Stone-house people, descendants of the cliff-dwelling
Sòbaypuris, whom they drove out of Aravypa cañon and forced to flee to the Pimas for refuge about a century ago" (Jour. Am.
Folklore, 114, April - June 1890). This has been repeated in newspaper articles from the 1930s. The Sobaipuri did not occupy cliff
dwellings. As a matter of cultural practice they occupied riverside settlements. During hunting trips or to hide out from enemies they
may have temporarily used rockshelters or abandoned cliff dwellings built by prehistoric peoples, but this was not their traditional
pattern. This is a misleading statement. The Sobaipuri were not "stone-house people" either.

Bandelier (Arch. Inst. Papers, iii, 102, 1890) states that "the Apaches caused the Sobaypuris to give up their homes on the San Pedro
and to merge into the Pápagos." This is only partially true. Because of Apache pressure they did leave the San Pedro, and then they
returned there. Then they left again. They ultimately merged into few larger Sobaipuri settlements. Some Tohono O'odham had also
come to live in these riverside settlements. Eventually, owing to political factors imposed from the outside, all officially became
Papago and then Tohono O'odham.

Contrary to Swanton's suggestion, the Sobaipuri did not seek refuge among the Tohono O'odham (aka Papago). Most Sobaipuri ended
up at San Xavier del Bac or Wa:k (a Sobaipuri settlement) and a few other river O'odham (Akimel O'odham) settlements. Through
intermarriage the Tohono O'odham have become mixed with the Sobaipuri, and the Tohono O'odham came to live with the Sobaipuri
in riverside settlements (such as Guevavi, Tumacacori, San Xavier de Bac), especially in the mid to late 1700s. For larger political
reasons the Sobaipuri were subsumed into the Tohono O'odham Nation, when that nation was formed, owing to dwindling numbers
and to the perceived need for a unified political body. Mexicans and later Americans were trespassing onto their land, and the
method chosen to protect the indigneous inhabitants was to form a reservation with clearly defined boundaries and a single voice.
Most Sobaipuri lost their distinct identity for these reasons by the 1930s.

In 1918 Thomas Edwin Farish suggested that "The Sobaipuri, also a Piman tribe, was probably a part of the Papagos..." Contrary to
Farish's statement the Sobaipuri were not part of the Tohono O'odham (aka Papago). The remnant of the tribe contracted into few
larger settlements and then through time they have been subsumed biologically and politically into the Tohono O'odham Nation, but
many cultural aspects of the Sobaipuri survive.

Farish also stated: "At the time of the occupation of Arizona, and its settlement in the latter part of the 18th century by the Spaniards,
the Sobaipuris, as a tribe, were extinct, if, indeed, they ever existed." The Sobaipuri did indeed exist.

Farish also noted: "When Coronado made his journey from Ures through the Wilderness to the headwaters of the San Pedro, he found
there the first Indians, who were supposed to be the Papagos, whose original home was the territory south and southeast of the Gila
river, especially south of Tucson, Arizona, in the main and tributary valleys of the Rio Santa Cruz, and extending west..." In fact, the
Indians encountered by Coronado were probably mobile non-O'odham groups: Jano or Jocome. Moreover, the Papago or Tohono
O'odham territory was not "south of Tucson, Arizona, in the main and tributary valleys of the Rio Santa Cruz..." This was part of
Sobaipuri territory. Sobaipuri territory did not end just south of Casa Grande as some suggest. Their sites extended into Sonora.

Mooney' s (1928) estimate of the number of Sobaipuri (600) in 1680 is seemingly low. At least a couple thousand Sobaipuri were
present on both the Santa Cruz and San Pedro rivers during Kino's time. Certainly this mission-period density was diminished as a
result of epidemics; the population was much higher in the 1540s.

The pottery Charles Di Peso called Sobaipuri Plain and Sobaipuri Red are not Sobaipuri-made. They may not even have originated
among the O'odham, although wares such as these were later made by the O'odham. The pottery diagnostic of the Sobaipuri is
Whetstone Plain, as are some types referred to as early O'odham wares. Plain and decorated trade wares seem to occur on Sobaipuri
sites as well.

Tumacacori National Monument, Calabasas, and San Augustin are not the sites of Kino-period missions. This is a fabrication designed
to draw tourists to these locations, to make those Colonial period edifaces relevant to the history of the indigneous occupants, and to
substitute for the perceived lack of data regarding the real native settlements and first missions. Reasonable suggestions have been
made for the actual Kino-period Sobaipuri settlements and these are located in different places than those overseen by the National
Park Service and being studied by various agencies and companies.

The Sobaipuri did not live in rectangular adobe-walled houses. They lived in dome-shaped elogate and oval houses, some of which
tended toward rectangular with rounded corners. These were covered by bent-poles and then with mats that were sometimes covered
with dirt or mud, or they were covered by brush. Only in the late 1800s or early 1900s did they make the switch from these
dome-shaped houses to the rectangular adobe-walled houses, although the transition probably occurred over a long period.

Arrow points used by the Sobaipuri do not include the full range of point types presented in Noel Justice's projectile point
descriptions. It is an unfortunate use of the label "Sobaipuri" for these points because many of the illustrated points are actually those
made by contemporaneous mobile groups, such as the Jano, Jocome, Manso, and Suma. These groups collectively are lumped into
the archaeological Canutillo complex. This is one reason it is inappropriate to use ethnic identifers in labels of artifact types.
Nomenclature for designating types dictates that geographic or similar non-cultural labels be used. Points used by the Sobaipuri are
designated Huachuca points, after a nearby mountain range.