MC Quixote

Returning to My Spanish Class' Field Trip to Antelope Island and Circles Part 10

It was cool getting to Antelope Island because you drive out on what they call a causeway; which is basically a road built through a lake. I knew that the presentation was going to be about the origins of the Aztecs, but I made no association with Antelope Island and Tenochtitlan.

I was shocked when this Chicano professor from Texas started his presentation with the bold statement, "You're standing on the ground that the Aztecs came from." Hmm, is this guy crazy? Then he did something cool, he presented four lines of evidence for this claim: linguistic, oral histories, maps, and DNA.

The linguistic evidence he presented stems from what he called, 'The Uto-Aztecan Line'. He stated,

"Any linguist who knows about the languages of the Numic people, which include Ute, Aztec, Shoshoni, Piute, and Goshute; understands they all share the same language root. This language family has become known as the Uto-Aztecan Line. Now, if you look at the archaeological record it's clear, the oldest record of any of these groups come from up here, in what has come to be known as The Great Basin."

Ute and Aztec have the same language root? Now, he had my full attention when he continued,

"We have thousands of human artifacts that were excavated from Danger Cave dating back 13,000 years ago. We're not sure that these we're the descendants of the Numic people but it is some of the oldest record of humans in the Americas and it's only 100 miles from here. So, we know there have been people in this region for at least 13,000 years."

I don't really know how to understand that kind of time, but I know it's important in some way. He kept going off about Danger Cave and how it has informed anthropologists about the people who have lived in this region over the last 13,000 years. He went on and on about tool technology and how we have an idea of how technology changed over long periods of time for the different people in this region.

Then the professor jumped up 6,000 years later. He said,

"We have evidence of people moving from a hunter gatherer culture to an agrarian culture and the populations started increasing dramatically." He realized he was starting to lose his audience, but he continued,

"Archeologists have documented 5000-year-old corn mills found in the Salt Lake Valley, some of which were unearthed when a freeway was being built 15 years ago."

He got a more frustrated because most of the students weren't really paying attention and he paused. He raised his voice and sounded a little bit angry repeating,

"The bottom line, 5000 years ago there was a lot of human activity in this area and this is the oldest record we have to date of the Numic people; who are linguistically connected to the Aztecs. This is our first line of evidence."

Some students continued goofing around and he stopped again. After he had asked politely for everyones' attention and students were still being disrespectful, and you could tell he was getting angry now.

Then, he just looked at each and every one of us without saying a word. It was really tense, and kind of scary. You could tell he had all this knowledge, and because of this, he had a kind of silent power that was clearly beyond any of us.

The silence he exercised, while looking straight into each of us, with that intelligent look in his eyes, had us right where he wanted us.

Finally, he broke the silence,

"Do you realize, many of you here, could have relatives who left artifacts in Danger Cave, who grew corn in this valley, traded in these regions, traveled by foot from here all the way to Mexico and back." "Don't you get it." "This is your land!" "We're standing on your land!" "Don't let anyone make you feel like a foreigner or visitor or alien or illegal or any of that. This is more your land than anyone telling you these things."

And then he calmed down, took a deep breath, and t said calmly,

"Unless it's coming from someone who is Native American."

He looked down at some of these papers he was holding in his hands and then just started talking as if he hadn't gone off on us,

"The second line of evidence I want to share with you are oral histories. These accounts come from tribes that are alive and well today. We've interviewed elders from the Navajo and the Hopi tribes, and both of these groups claim that their oral histories go back five to ten thousand years. And it would follow that these accounts would include information about Aztec migration patterns."

"Interestingly, the histories from both tribes are quite similar. It is clear the Aztecs initially came to Tenochtitlan from the north; it is vague but all the tribes we interviewed and even accounts from the Aztecs themselves give this general idea that they migrated from the north. Some of the Aztec accounts are quite detailed with some interesting time references."

"One of the interesting things about these indigenous cultures is the way they view time. Time is referred to something more like distance. One example could be amount of time as it would to take to walk from the Great Salt Lake to Utah Lake. This could be a measure of time equal to about 4 hours. Therefore, time can be measured by how long it takes to walk from one geographical feature to another."

"People who understand these time references have then translated Aztec histories to give us more detailed information. One example would be how long it was before the Aztecs discovered a snake eating an eagle after they received a prophecy from the Aztec God Huitzilopochtli. Extensive research has determined it took just over 100 years after the prophecy was given before it was fulfilled on the island that came to be called Tenochtitlan."

"Some of the other details we've documented from oral histories are that the Aztecs came from an island in the middle of a lake, surrounded by mountains, and the island had seven caves on it. This all checks out with Antelope Island. I've asked every park ranger on this island if there are caves here and every one of them responded there are seven caves. One ranger pointed out all seven caves on the map in the visitor center which I'll show you now."

The professor led us out of the small lecture hall and into the middle of the visitor center and he used a laser pointer to show us where each of the seven caves were located on this large topographical map.

"The third line of evidence that I'd like to present are other physical maps. Both the Hopi and the Navajo have their own pre-Columbian maps which include the migrations of various tribes. Every one of these maps clearly illustrates the path the Aztecs took to get to Tenochtitlan and they begin at an island in the middle of a lake which is situated just north of another large body of water. Considering all the geographical representations found in these maps it's clear they refer to modern day Utah Lake, The Great Salt Lake, and Antelope Island."

"There is one more line of evidence which also supports the claim the Aztecs came from The Great Basin area around The Great Salt Lake, DNA. All the DNA samples collected to this point show the Aztecs are related to the Numic people and as I stated before, the earliest evidence of the Numic people comes out of The Great Basin. We'll have more definitive results as DNA technology improves."

"These four lines of evidence; linguistic, oral histories, maps, and DNA, all support my original claim: The Aztecs came from this region of northern Utah and even more specifically they came from where we stand here, Antelope Island."

At that point, I saw the circle. The circle I had completed with my own people. The blood lines from my mother could be traced back to where I'm standing. It's quite possible, or may I say probable my ancestors came from The Great Basin. Maybe they lived in what is know today as The Salt Lake Valley, hunted deer in The Uintahs, maybe they fished the old Lake Bonneville, or chased antelope across the desert.

I want to know more about the people who inhabited this place over the last 13,000 years. Now, I feel more connected to Utah, knowing that some of my roots probably came from this place. One more circle in the endless and timeless cycles of circles. I'm going to dig deeper and see what I can find.