SEASON 4 // EPISODE 1: THE FIRST MIGRATIONS
Origin Stories + Science
In season 4, we’re digging into some of the most commonly asked questions at Mesa Verde National Park.
“Hopi people know their cultural roots, their history all the way back to the creation of man through the different phases of human evolution.”
“We were already at Mesa Verde... We emerged from Mother Earth.”
In this episode, we're talking about how the Ancestral Pueblo people came to be in the Southwest, and how Indigenous and European ways of learning and knowing about the past can complement each other.
We’ll hear from Stewart B. Koyiyumptewa (Hopi) and TJ Atsye (Laguna Pueblo) as they share what their oral histories say about how their ancestors came to be at Mesa Verde. Dr. Jesse Tune, Assistant Professor in the Anthropology Department at Fort Lewis College, explains the current hypotheses about how humans came to call the Northern and Southern American continents home.
Looking for more?
Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Mesa Top Loop Audio Tour
Check out the Mesa Top Loop Audio Tour - put together by Mesa Verde National Park - to follow the footsteps left behind by the Pueblo ancestors.
Download or stream this multi-part tour now on Apple Podcasts or visit Mesa Verde National Park’s website to find a transcript.
NPS PHOTO: Ranger TJ ATSYE (Laguna pueblo)
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Bering Land Bridge National Preserve
The land known as the Bering Land Bridge is part of the National Park system as Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. You can visit this place - both physically and virtually! - to learn more about that truly significant in human history.
Diversity within the Mesa Verde Region
Thousands of people trace their heritage back to the canyons, mesas, and alcoves of Mesa Verde. Before Spanish conquest, over 300 groups called this region their ancestral home, today there are 26.
The 19 Pueblos of New Mexico: Taos, Picuris, Sandia, Isleta, Ohkay Owingeh, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Nambe, Tesuque, Jemez, Cochiti, Pojoaque, Kewa (Santo Domingo), San Felipe, Santa Ana, Zia, Laguna, Acoma, and Zuni
Hopi in Arizona
Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in Texas
Navajo Nation in Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in Colorado and Utah
Southern Ute in Colorado
Northern Ute in Utah
Jicarilla Apache Nation in New Mexico
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