Welcome back Earthlings, to another
episode of The Amateur Space Archaeologist.
I'm your host Anthony Steinhart.
This episode we'll take a look at the two geoglyphs found in the Fort Mohave area of Arizona.
What is a geoglyph some of you may ask?
Well, a geoglyph is a large scale image
or design produced in the natural
landscape by techniques such as aligning
rocks or gravel or by removing soil or
sod, the complete form of which is only
visible from the sky or at a distance.
Some of the most famous geoglyphs in the world are the Nazca Lines in Peru.
Now, a quick note about the different
spelling of Fort Mohave Arizona and the Mojave Indian tribe.
It could come down
to a simple clerical error for the spelling of Fort Mohave,
however, it is
more likely that the evolution of the
name Mojave followed the natural
phonetic process since the American
language does not have an equivalent of
the Spanish sounding "J" and instead
substitutes the sound with an "H."
Whatever
the reason is, the United States
Geological Survey's Geographic Names
Information System recognizes both spellings --
Mohave with an "H" being
accepted in Arizona and Mojave with a "J"
being the accepted spelling in
California.
With all of that out of the way, let us take a closer look
at the fort Mohave area of Arizona,
which is located 99 miles from the Las Vegas Strip
and approximately 14 miles from Laughlin Nevada.
Fort Mohave was once occupied by the
Mojave Indians, also known as,
the Pipa Aha Macav or The People By The
River.
They trace their origins to Spirit Mountain, the highest peak in the nearby Newberry Mountains.
According to the tribes tradition, their spirit mentor was known as, Matavilya,
created at the time when Heaven and Earth met.
By some varying accounts, Matavilya's sister or
daughter, known as the Frog Woman
killed him before he was able to teach his
people all they needed to know about the world.
It is then that his brother or son,
Mastamho, took charge and created the
Colorado River by driving a willow stick
into the ground.
He gave the Mojave people the river and
everything along the river,
as well as, instructed the tribe in the arts of civilization.
One of the first people to document meeting the Mojave tribe was Friar Francisco Hermenegildo
Tomas Garcés, in his diary back in
1776 while on expedition with Lieutenant Colonel
Juan Bautista De Anza.
De Anza would go on to establish the first settlements of San Francisco,
while Garcés would take the honor of being the first
non-native American to
pass through modern-day Nevada.
By 1848, Arizona, which was still a part
of New Mexico was annexed by the United States
and with that came more settlers
and the US Army onto Mojave land
upsetting the native people of the area.
And in 1858 an attack by a local native group
on a wagon train led to a military
expedition in 1859
headed by Lieutenant Colonel William Hoffman of the 6th US infantry against the Mojave Indians.
Once Lieutenant Colonel Hoffman arrived, he dictated a piece with the Mojave Chiefs
threatening annihilation if they did not
comply and cease all hostilities.
During this time in 1859 an American military outpost was established, originally named
Camp Colorado before quickly being
renamed Fort Mohave.
The purpose of the fort was to ensure the safe passage of wagon trains of emigrants
and soldiers passing through the area.
Continued skirmishes with the Mojave Indians led major Lewis A. Armistead
to formulate a major campaign of retribution against the river tribe.
With the Americans vastly superior firepower
killing or maiming a large number of the
Mojaves most able-bodied men,
the Mojaves decided to accept a peace deal.
As part of the peace deal the Mojaves had to give up a small parcel of land
and even though the area amounted to just a few acre,
for the Mojaves-- they had just
lost their homeland.
The fort however was abandoned in 1861 during the early part of the Civil War,
reopened in 1863 and in 1890 it was turned over to the
Fort Mojave Indian Reservation for use as a school.
The school was closed in 1930 and
the buildings were demolished in 1942.
While I was searching for the remains of
the fort, I came across the two geoglyphs
that had my initial interest in the area
Fort Mohave, Arizona.
To my surprise the geoglyphs were located just outside a residential area.
According to some researchers, the geoglyphs represent the hero twins of the Mojave tribes creation myth.
They are thought to be the brother
deities of Mastamho and Kataar,
with the larger of the two representing good and the smaller one without a head representing evil.
However, I could not find
any more info about Kataar.
Perhaps he's been lost to history, as it has been suggested that the geoglyphs could be a
thousand years old or more, with no
definitive answer to their age
Sticking with the good and evil theme, could the geoglyphs represent Mastamho
and the Frog woman instead of
Kataar?
When I look at the geoglyphs the headless one looks more to me like a frog.
There seems to be a head shape, just no neck and the legs and arms look more frog like.
I'm just speculating.
Obviously, this site was of great importance to the people who placed these geoglyphs here.
What took place
here in the distant past?
Was this a marker to ward off evil or let other tribes know that they have entered Mojave space?
Hopefully, one day we'll have a greater understanding of this site.
However, as more time passes, our
memories tend to fade and stories forgotten.
I hope I've inspired the citizen scientist inside of you to start exploring the world around you
and don't forget to subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon.
Until next time, thanks for watching
The Amateur Space Archaeologist.
