Indeed, in 1960, the so-called“ Vernon man” was discovered. Nine inches high, carved from sandstone and painted with vertcal stripes, this statue was found in a crypt within a kiva. Though popularly also labelled a kachina, the Hopi identify it as a wu’ ya or tiponi, a clan deity.
The kachina doll cult is known to have definitely existed by 1300 AD. Some argue it came from the Zuni Pueblo to the West of the Hopi Mesas, others argue that it came from the Rio Grande, others that it came from the Mimbres cult of the south, and / or that it developed in Mexico. In short: no-one knows. Details of the paintings on Awatovi murals, an ancestral Hopi site, show costumed and masked figures as separated elements or interacting in scenes.
But the role and iconography of the dolls does strongly echo certain Aztec deities such as Tlaloc, the god of rain, and Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, who was also the bringer of rain and corn. Seeing the kachina are specifically linked with the rain … Recent discoveries in Chaco Canyon have also suggested that the kachina cult was introduced by cannibalistic warrior refugees from the south. It is clear that this archaeological discovery – or at least the conclusion drawn from it – has created controversy within the Native American community. Wherever it came from, representations of masked beings that have the characteristics of the kachina appear on murals in kivas that date to as early as 1350. Situated at Hopi and Homol’ ovi on the Hopi Mesas themselves, it underlines the length of time in which the cult has been present amongst the Hopi people.
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Indeed, in 1960, the so-called“ Vernon man” was discovered. Nine inches high, carved from sandstone and painted with vertcal stripes, this statue was found in a crypt within a kiva. Though popularly also labelled a kachina, the Hopi identify it as a wu’ ya or tiponi, a clan deity.
The kachina doll cult is known to have definitely existed by 1300 AD. Some argue it came from the Zuni Pueblo to the West of the Hopi Mesas, others argue that it came from the Rio Grande, others that it came from the Mimbres cult of the south, and / or that it developed in Mexico. In short: no-one knows. Details of the paintings on Awatovi murals, an ancestral Hopi site, show costumed and masked figures as separated elements or interacting in scenes.
But the role and iconography of the dolls does strongly echo certain Aztec deities such as Tlaloc, the god of rain, and Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, who was also the bringer of rain and corn. Seeing the kachina are specifically linked with the rain … Recent discoveries in Chaco Canyon have also suggested that the kachina cult was introduced by cannibalistic warrior refugees from the south. It is clear that this archaeological discovery – or at least the conclusion drawn from it – has created controversy within the Native American community. Wherever it came from, representations of masked beings that have the characteristics of the kachina appear on murals in kivas that date to as early as 1350. Situated at Hopi and Homol’ ovi on the Hopi Mesas themselves, it underlines the length of time in which the cult has been present amongst the Hopi people.
… representations of masked beings that have the characteristics of the kachina appear on murals in kivas that date to as early as 1350 AD