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Show V. KEYAH SANI: THE SEARCH FOR DINETAH The Peoples Journeys - An Introduction *+ ff The Navajos emerged from the lower worlds onto an island in the middle of a lake surrounded by tall and beautiful mountains. That lake, say the stories, lies somewhere in the north. And modern science has agreed, at least in part, with this Navajo tradition. In 1852, it was shown that the Navajos speak an Athabascan language. Athabascan is the name given to a group or "family" of related languages found mostly in Canada and Alaska. With that discovery, scholars began to accept the idea that the People came from the north. Navajo tradition gives a number of clues to this northern origin. Many Navajo stories do not resemble those of the Pueblos who surround the modern Navajos. But similar stories can be found among tribes in Canada, Washington, Idaho, and the Northern Plains. Even the Navajo origin story is different from those of other southwestern peoples. Of all such stories, only that of the Navajo admits that the People were not the first to live in the land they now occupy. Instead it says that the Pueblos, or Kiis'anii, were there to greet the People when they came out. But when and how the Navajos and Apaches came from Canada to the Southwest is not certain. Some scientists say that the Navajos moved through the High Plains and entered the Southwest about a.d. 1525. These scientists think that the Navajos were hunters who followed the buffalo down from Canada. Evidence from some ancient sites in the western Plains tends to support this point of view. These old camps, called the "Dismal River Sites," seem to have been used by Athabascans. The people who made these camps lived in earth lodges, made a special kind of pottery, and hunted buffalo. Other scientists disagree. They think the People may have come to Dinetah, the southwest Navajo homeland, much earlier than a.d. 1525 and that they could have followed an intermoun-tain route. These scholars point out that pottery like that found at the Dismal River sites is also found throughout an area from 59 |