A couple of days ago I was climbing a mesa with my friend Iren who is “a guide to the wild places” – those places off the beaten track where stories are told by the stones and the Earth that supports them.
As a severely directionally dyslexic person who cannot tell her left from right navigating this hidden world would be impossible without Iren’s deep knowledge of this land, her expertise, her extraordinary sensitivity and her love for Nature. No words can ever express my gratitude for this friendship without which I would feel bereft.
As we climbed through mountains of human garbage and four wheeler tracks we discovered potsherds at our feet. Picking up the predominantly black and white pieces for inspection I found myself wondering about the women (and children) who gathered the clay, shaped it into pots, and fired the vessels to store food. There are so many untold women’s stories hidden in these clay fragments…
Female scholarship (see Marija Gimbutas, Buffie Johnson, and more recently women scholars like Helen Hye Sook Hwang, Susan Hawthorne, and Carol Christ’s tireless research in women’s prehistory to mention just a few) reminds us that women have been fashioning clay vessels and sculptures for millennia. The imprint of women’s handprints can be seen on Neolithic goddess sculptures and pots throughout the world.
Here in Abiquiu and the surrounding high desert I wonder what specific activities these peoples might have been engaged in. We found a plethora of the black and white fragmented clay pots (some with very thick rims) of Indigenous Anasazi peoples who preceded later Pueblo cultures. I am especially drawn to the black and white shards that seem to have faces or are tree -like; Iren loves the pieces that look like ladders. Occasionally I spot a potsherd made from red or micacious clay, a relic from later Indigenous inhabitants of this area. I wondered if the women ground these ancient artifacts into temper to strengthen the newer clay they dug and shaped into vessels for firing.
We studied the landscape around us for more clues to its original inhabitants. Iren spotted a petroglyph pecked into the rock. Avanyu, the Tewa Pueblo serpent, spirit of the waters, also lives here. We were overlooking a stunning valley with interlocking arroyos and even in drought we could see evidence of underground water seeping to the surface, dampening desert sand. I wondered if there were hidden springs somewhere on the mesa. There were so many potsherds that I speculated… Were some clay vessels actually made here, or perhaps more likely, maybe this was simply another very large self sustaining Indigenous Pueblo community… On this hill there were also many volcanic boulders, some appeared to have been deliberately placed in a circle…
Even more fascinating were the stones that were smoothed and hollowed out by women grinding foodstuffs into flour. I was surprised to see so many of these in one relatively small area indicating that many women (and children) congregated in this one place. These worked stones are called Metates that were and are still used by some Indigenous women to grind seeds, grains, maize into flour to be used in cooking. Some are portable these were not.
The most unusual feature of these rocks is that there were a number of different sized hollowed out depressions in a single stone. I have a portable metate with three depressions on its upper surface, and Iren has some with depressions that I believe were used to grind lime treated maize during food preparation. But these particular grinding stones not only had hollowed out spaces in the upper surface of the rock but along the sides as well.
Researching possibilities for why this might be so I learned that some immovable metates were used to grind acorns and plant materials of different sizes for medicinal uses on the actual sites where the plants/trees thrived. Since women were also responsible for medicinal healing I guessed that at one time there were roots and herbs that were found here and pulverized to create health remedies. Since grinding acorns created small pockets that looked like dimples in the rocks, and we saw a number of these small holes I wondered if at one time oak forests were abundant here. But of course my all of my perceptions are pure speculation because only the land holds the truth of the story.
I spied a suspiciously round volcanic stone and immediately intuited with excitement that I had picked up a mano, the word used to describe the kind of rock that might be used to grind up plant material. I found one many years ago in Tucson, and when I took it to the park’s wildlife center, they confirmed that I had discovered this tool beside one of the arroyos I walked regularly.
About a half a mile back I had seen a metate situated on the edge of the arroyos and imagined the women gazing into the talking waters as they worked…
As Iren and I wandered over this particular landscape I had the same powerful feeling that I had when I came here with her the first time – namely that the Earth was attempting to communicate the story of her earlier inhabitants, to us, and perhaps to anyone with eyes to see and ears to listen.
So perhaps my speculations are grounded in the wisdom of Powers of Place that intersect with ordinary time. Stillness, simple questions, and keen attention to the land seem to allow ancient truths to surface through Earth’s body educating those who choose to listen about the lives of the women who lived and worked here so long ago.
All photos credited to author, Sara Wright.
feminismandreligion.com 
I really enjoyed reading this – it was so interesting! Amazing to think that these ancient artefacts are just lying about to be picked up!
LikeLike
Oh, I am so delighted that you liked the story… it is amazing that there are still so many artifacts that remain in the storied Earth… Today the Tewa speaking Pueblo peoples still engage in ceremony in much the way they did long ago and many continue to make pots not just for their own needs but to sell. This art form is exquisite. But the landscapes are also areas in which people today regularly dump trash, a tragic reality.
LikeLike
Beautiful story, blessed be! The mano looks just like the rocks of Lesbos. I have never heard that they were traded to other parts of Greece that do not have volcanic histories. Now I wonder if they were.
LikeLike
Oh Carol, I bet these rocks were traded in Greece as elsewhere. Ancient peoples as you know traveled and engaged in trade much more frequently than is often acknowledged. I often wonder if modern travel techniques have blinded people to the understanding that older civilizations were not tied to the westerners sense of time and routinely made seasonal journeys by walking,or using an animal or boat to get from one place to another.
LikeLike
Thanks for this. I, too, often wonder what stories the earth could tell. I am fascinated by archaeology and what it can tell us about our foremothers.
LikeLike
I really do believe the Earth can tell these stories but to experience them we have to leave time as we know it and become wanderers…. Whenever I am with my friend Iren on some sort of trek time becomes open ended and I really believe this allows the stories to filter into our awareness – not necessarily the details but the SENSE that one is making a connection outside ordinary space- time.
LikeLike
Just to mention any search at Google for Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings will bring up a ton of images of the landscape where she lived there in Abiquiu
LikeLike
Yes, Sarah, Abiquiu is an extraordinary piece of Earth. There are so many many ruins to explore. In many ways this “negligence” on the part of archeology to excavate these ruins leaves them off the map and I think this helps keep the stories intact for those that want to hear them.
LikeLike
Love this post Sarah Wright, the images too are fascinating, Wow!
LikeLike
Oops, Sara Wright, your name should be spelled Sara sorry.
LikeLike
I am delighted that you like this post! As for the images, well they are separate from their original context unfortunately but showing pictures is the best I can do
LikeLike
Love this essay, Sara! Are you familiar with Terry Tempest Williams’ books? She writes about landscape, wondering (as do you) about the people who lived on the land she now traverses. Terry grew up in Utah. Two of her books include PIECES OF WHITE SHELL A JOURNEY TO NAVAJOLAND and REFUGE.
LikeLike
Esther, thank you! And yes, I am very familiar with Terry’s books and have met her personally. She has a sense of place that I can relate to on an intimate level. The last time I heard her speak – she has a place in Maine – she was bemoaning the losses she experienced being a part time resident. Maine is being swallowed by the material culture and forest and land devastation is daily reality. Coming here to the desert where the wild places are still intact just outside my door has given a reprieve of sorts… but here we face a terrible drought.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe you can answer this, Sara. Doesn’t Leslie Marmon Silko have a chapter in her book “Yellow Woman” about landscape as narrative?
Also, have you read “The Women Are Singing” by Luci Tapahoso?
LikeLike
Yes, she does. I have not read “The Women are Singing” but plan to investigate this book on the web. Sounds interesting. Thanks!
LikeLike
Thanks, Sara, for this fascinating piece. When I walk the land, the stories I hear are usually more about the landscape and its non-human inhabitants. It’s fascinating to hear a story from the land about its human inhabitants.
LikeLike
Ah, I have this kind of experience too about the animals and plants, but here in New Mexico one can feel something very ancient in the peoples that once lived here and continue to do so… As a naturalist I find this human connection very curious.
LikeLike
Sara, this is a beautiful post that I’ve struggled to respond to. The reason is that my heart is breaking for how we are abusing our home planet, for our species’ lack of respect for creation and for our addiction to arrogant self interest.
May the beauty and mystery of our Earth move us to awe and action.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Barbara, I understand just how you feel. Some days I am in such a state of despair and heartbreak over this massive ongoing abuse of the Earth that I think that I can’t continue to witness the unspeakable – and yet – each wilderness trek seems to galvanize me into writing about the experience… something, I believe the Voice of the Earth drives me to it… with or without the sanction of my personal will.
LikeLiked by 1 person