By Stephani Paladino

He had begun to despair. He had prayed, fasted, given offerings, yet the Gods had not answered. None of the children born could be apprenticed to him and become his replacement. And now, the very Earth was vomiting out her insides all around them – they would have to relocate. He would have to lead them to a new place, at his advanced age. He sighed and turned away from his contemplation of Mountain-of-the-Fire, back to face his people. It was a great burden to bear, at the ripe old age of 21 summers, being the healer, spiritual guide, gainer of blessings and listener for this little band of people.

On the day he was born, the Sun burned red in the sky. His parents understood that this was a sign, and they sent for Elder Lizard Man. As he entered through the roof, the babe turned to face him, stretched out his arms and cooed at him. Lizard Man silently thanked the Gods for sending his heir as he took the hours-old child in his arms. From his pouch, he took the red and white powders, mixed them with his spit and marked the child on his face, neck, chest and back. There would be a celebration that night, and the new Lizard Man would be presented to the people of the villages. His Father and Mother wept, both from the joy that their child would be the next Lizard Man and also from the sadness of knowing that they would only have him to themselves for 2 summers before they must give him to Elder Lizard Man as apprentice.

The boy grew up strong, handsome, fine and intelligent, despite thin times. He quickly became wise in the ways of herbs, medicines, politics and also meditating, communing with and making offerings to the Gods. He was now known as Lizard Man’s Son, and his mentor, Old Lizard Man. In his 15^th year, Old Lizard Man told him that he was dying. According to the traditions of their people, they went through the rituals of transformation which would confer the title of Elder Lizard Man to the boy. When Old Lizard Man died, he was cremated according to the traditions, and his ashes placed where the East wind would distribute them over the village. This provided more blessings for the crops and the babes in the wombs.

Lizard Man traveled to the other villages regularly, to hear their disputes, to heal and to pray for blessings. He also traded for shells, herbs and other necessities. On one trip, a maiden caught his eye. He inquired as to her status and discovered that she was available. There was no restriction against marriage of a Lizard Man, so he sued for her hand to her father. Her father was honored that Lizard Man wanted to marry his daughter, and also afraid of offending him, so he did not request a large dowry. However, Lizard Man was wise, and gave more than the father had requested; an amount which he felt would be fair recompense for taking away helping hands from that household. The father was pleased, and ties between Ridge Village and Lizard Man Village were made that much stronger.

Lizard Man took Wife home to his village, to the home he had inherited from Old Lizard Man upon his death. This house was removed from the main body of the village, near the portrait which gave the village its name. Wife was lonely, and the villagers desired Lizard Man to be closer to them, so they began to build a new home in the village. As they dug in the floor, they discovered that in a portion of their "new" house there was the foundation of another. This phenomenon had occurred before, in other dwellings in the village, so they were not unhappy. In fact, they discovered the old hearth, which was still intact and usable. This meant they could live in the house while they finished building as they could cook in it. The finished house had a hearth, roof entry and a storage area separated from the main living area. It was a nice home. Wife put her metates up on the roof so she could grind her corn in the bright sunshine. It took a little time because she ground her corn up twice. This way she had a finer flour to cook with.

Time went on, but no heirs were born in the village, to Lizard Man or anyone else. In fact, Wife had only become pregnant twice in 5 summers, and neither had produced live offspring. Lizard Man was becoming desperate, he knew that he was near the age of Old Lizard Man when Mountain-of-the-Fire had forced the relocation of his people, and he was in the same predicament. His own birth had come 5 summers later, and Old Lizard Man had been very old indeed. He did not want to be that old when his heir finally arrived. He enclosed the storage room and covered up the storage pit. He built a bench, dug a ventilation shaft and sipapu. And he prayed, made offerings and held prayer ceremonies. The times were lean, rain was scarce and all of the men were hoping for successful pregnancies for their wives.

A good season came, with plentiful rain, wildlife and good temperatures for growing. Many wives became with child, including Lizard Man’s. The summer continued to be good, and in the winter, she was delivered of a beautiful, healthy bouncing baby girl. A girl child!! She could not be Lizard Man’s heir, but at least she was healthy and alive. Perhaps this meant the end of the lean times and the other troubles. Maybe next time Wife/Mother would deliver a boy which would be his heir. Or someone would.

More time passed and Daughter grew into a precocious, captivating, bright, but daring child. She constantly took chances with her safety and one day paid for this with a fall from the roof. Her leg was broken, and so were a couple of her teeth. Lizard Man was devastated, all the more so because no matter what he did, he was unable to set her leg in a straight manner. When Daughter’s leg broke, it broke in two, and the sudden release of tension to the muscles caused them to contract completely. They simply would not expand enough to put the two pieces of bone back together again. On top of this, Daughter did not wish to be kept inside, in bed, in her little room. (After her birth, Lizard Man had again remodeled the storage room and made it into a room for Daughter so that he and Wife could concentrate on conceiving an heir in peace.) She kept moving around and trying to get up the ladder to the outside, which would move the pieces of bone out of alignment and cancel out any healing which had taken place. In desperation, Lizard Man and Mother tied her to her bed. Daughter’s boisterous spirit was broken by this and she became depressed as the time of healing dragged on. Mother tried to lighten her spirits by teaching her to make pots and to weave baskets and sandals; activities she could do while confined to her bed or a spot in the main room. When Lizard Man pronounced her healed, she was so happy she could barely contain herself. This joy quickly turned to sadness however, when she discovered that the healed leg was now not only weaker, but also shorter than the other leg. She could no longer run and catch butterflies or play hide-n-seek with the other children. In fact, she could barely climb the ladder to leave the house.

Lizard Man would bring her to the roof during the warm days while Mother ground corn. This way she could still enjoy the sunshine and see the butterflies as she whiled away her time by making pots and baskets. Times were good again, and Mother was pregnant. Daughter was becoming more depressed as the baby grew because she knew that she could not be of much help when the baby arrived. One early fall day while they were on the roof, a freak storm caught them. Freezing winds blew, sleet and hail fell. Mother, now heavy with the child, could not get Daughter to shelter and she was drenched. She developed a fever, and Mother got sick too. Lizard Man worked frantically with herbs and offerings and prayers to save both lives.

But, Daughter was running in the fields chasing butterflies – both legs the same length and working perfectly – in the delirium caused by the fever, and she decided to stay there. She could hear Lizard Man/Father calling to her to come back, but she cried, "I love you, Father, and Mother too, but here I am not a cripple and not a burden anymore, so I think I will stay. Goodbye!" Lizard Man was devastated, and exhausted he fell into a deep sleep. In a dream, Old Lizard Man came to him and told him that he had done well and was not being punished by Daughter’s death. She had chosen to go, and was now with Old Lizard Man. "I will care for her and keep her until you come to us", he said. Lizard Man awoke, happy, refreshed and hopeful for the future. As he tended to Mother, he believed that he could see a great improvement in her condition, and went to prepare for Daughter’s burial.

Daughter was buried as befits the child of the Elder, with jewelry and clothing to adorn her on her trip, pots of prepared foods, liquids and seeds to sustain her and gifts to give to the guardians of the gates when she arrived. Her very best work in pottery and baskets were also placed with her, so that she could demonstrate that she had skills in the next world. Mother recovered rapidly, despite her heartbreak over losing Daughter. She was looking forward to the birth of the new baby, certain that it was a boy and also that it would be the long awaited successor to the Lizard Man heritage.

When her time came to deliver the child, she called to the village waiting women, who washed her face, held her hands and helped her to remain in the position of giving birth. But, the hours dragged on and the child did not appear. Mother was becoming exhausted, and night was coming on when a foot appeared, and then another. One of the women sent for Old Mother, who came when pregnant women had trouble delivering babies. She was from a neighboring village, and so it took a little over an hour for her to arrive. By this time, Mother was so exhausted she could not maintain the birthing position any longer, indeed, could not even cry out when the pains came. Old Mother tried to move the baby back inside so he could turn around and come out the right way, but it was too late. They could not be buried that way, so Old Mother shooed the waiting women out of the house and then performed the operation which would release the body of the baby. She carefully re-closed the wound and sent for Lizard Man.

The loss of Wife and Son, so soon after the loss of Daughter nearly destroyed him with grief. Son was cremated after the tradition of their people; although he had not ever gone through the ritual and training of Lizard Man, he was the heir and therefore was accorded the special burial ritual reserved for him. His ashes were placed upon the same spot as Old Lizard Man’s had been years before. Wife was buried in the same manner as Daughter; lain upon a specially prepared and colored surface, dressed in finery, with her arm bands and jewelry so as to be presentable, with food and liquids for sustenance on her journey, and gift offerings for when she arrived, and also, a small figurine representing Son. This was made of clay, and had been imbued with some of his essences in order to enable her to find him when she made it to the next world.

Lizard Man never really recovered from his loss, and gave up on ever having an heir. He ceased to worry about what would happen to his people when his time came, after all, they were carrying on just fine without his blessings and prayers right now. He continued to provide healing for the villages, and to travel to collect the herbs and seeds necessary for his work. One night, at Ridge Village, he went to sleep and didn’t wake up. Due to the close ties between the two villages it was decided that he would receive his burial there, rather than being taken back to Lizard Man Village. However, he could not be cremated, because he had no heir. The designated heir had died at birth, and no other had been found during Lizard Man’s lifetime, so he must be buried with the tools of his office, with the proper burial requirements for his journey, and with many offerings to persuade the Gods to allow him passage to the next world, even though he had left this one before his work was finished. The local villages were notified of his death, and of the time of his interment. Everyone came, and many offerings were given into his grave, along with many prayers for forgiveness from the Gods. No one really worried about how they would survive without a Lizard Man, however, for during the time of his bereavement they had made their own offerings, said their own prayers and done their own healing. Nothing had been much different as far as the weather, rainfall, crop growth and pregnancy rates, so they felt that the Gods understood and were not going to punish them for their sacrilege.

In the next world, Lizard Man found his family in bright fields among beautiful butterflies.

Research Background

This story is set in primarily in Lizard Man Village, and information built upon is from Life in the Pueblo, by Kathryn Kamp. Unless otherwise noted, references will be to page numbers in this book.

For me, the discoveries of the "magician’s" grave, as well as the graves of the child and woman who had the offerings, were an enigma demanding an explanation. Until the time machine is developed, there really isn’t one. I am aware that there is a little crossing over of time frames, as the story is set pretty much in the beginning (~1070 AD) of the occupation of Lizard Man, and burials (inhumations) were more common toward the end of the occupation (~1150-1250 AD), but I wanted to explain the burials. These three burials were special, and no one really knows why. I think I came pretty close to the right times, though, if you add up the ages and dates. Old Lizard Man was 21 in 1070, and died about 17 years later in 1098. Lizard Man was 15 in 1098, and assuming he lived to be 35-40 years old (which is the estimated age of the magician) then he would have died in 1118 to 1123. Also, by giving an explanation for the inhumation, I think I covered it.

These items are factual. Lizard Man Village was occupied after Sunset Crater erupted, from approximately 1070 AD to 1250 AD. It is believed to have been an egalitarian society, and specifically that designated important persons would not necessarily have inherited their role in society. The cremation of Old Lizard Man is based upon the notation that there were few, if any, inhumations during the Angell-Winona phase of occupation (1070 AD – 1100 AD), which would have been when he died. In fact, none were found during the four years of study. Room One is located right at the sight of the Lizard Man petroglyph. Roomblock 2 and Room 2/3 was built partially over the site of a prior pithouse, and the original hearth is not only within the newer structure, but is still intact today. The construction and remodeling are re-enacted in the story as they are believed to have occurred.

The burial analyses show that the people were not healthy, not even the children, and probably many died in infancy. The child burial actually existed and Kathryn wrote a story regarding her short life. While researchers were unable to actually determine the sex of the child, I also made her a female, and gave her a fall to explain her broken leg. I can’t give Kathryn’s reason for doing so, but mine is simply that I prefer to picture children running and playing rather than sickly. The burial of the woman also existed, first mentioned more for what remained of the armbands, then later in the chapter on burials. Because there was no discernable cause of death for her, I devised one. Death by childbirth would not likely leave any discernable signs, and her age was right. The metates also existed, and were found on the floor with what remained of the roof, and the cinders, which blew over it. I made them for two different grindings based upon the Hopi practice of grinding their corn three times to produce a fine flour. Although there was no evidence at Lizard Man to indicate that this was practiced there, I had one woman in the household and two metates, so I practiced a little poetic license with that scene. Finally, I called him "Lizard Man" after the petroglyph. Kathryn Kamp defines it as "a human figure with a long tail", and in other studies I have seen various depictions of human figures with tails, headdresses, etc., which may depict priests of certain cults. So, I made that figure a representation painted there by the Old Lizard Man, and this was now the new Lizard Man Village, founded after the villagers had to evacuate a site closer to the eruption zone of Sunset Crater.

These facts are very dry all by themselves. There were once people at Lizard Man Village; men, women and children. They were alive, they loved, they feared, they sorrowed, they died. They have a history, buried somewhere, perhaps forever. So, I took the facts and turned them into living people and gave them a short history. I created a small village which communicated and cooperated with the other small villages nearby. I made reasons for the two metates and the three special burials. It could have happened that way, couldn’t it?

I enjoyed writing this tale, as in the writing I could explain why these people in particular were buried in the manner that they were, how and why Room 2/3 was built and remodeled and what their lives might have been like. I wish I could have been a little more detailed, but I am afraid that I am already way over the limit for this essay. Stories like this one help me a little with closure; it makes me crazy that there just isn’t enough left to tell their stories. These people clung with such tenacity to the landscape of the American Southwest, I just wish I could understand how and why. The references to what the burial items represented were fictional, a conglomeration of past readings and Discovery Channel specials. You may note a similarity to Egyptian burials (food offerings, gift offerings), well, why not? Who says they were not? Food and liquid offerings are definitely perishable items, whether or not they are covered up. Rodents can get in and eat the food, and the liquid evaporates. Those particular burials were covered with boards, so there was presumably some air space between them and the dirt covering. This would definitely create an atmosphere for disintegration and evaporation. I hope this explains what was fictional and why I wrote it. Thank you for this opportunity.

Bibliography

Kamp, Kathryn. Life in the Pueblo: Understanding the Past Through Archaeology, Waveland Press, Inc., 1998.

Plog, Stephen. Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest, Thames and Hudson, Ltd., 1997.