If the Shoe Fits: A Subarctic-Style Moccasin from Montezuma Castle National Monument and the Fourteenth Century Shift to Hide Footwear in the Precontact Southwest
Gilmore KP, Jolie EA, Ives JW. 2024. If the Shoe Fits: A Subarctic-Style Moccasin from Montezuma Castle National Monument and the Fourteenth Century Shift to Hide Footwear in the Precontact Southwest. Journal of Arizona Archaeology. 10(2):145-162
The early Indigenous use of fiber sandals in the American Southwest is well documented, but far less is known about the apparently more recent shift to leather footwear after AD 1300. Reexamination of moccasin MOCA 43 from Castle A at Montezuma Castle National Monument may shed light on the adoption of leather footwear in the Southwest and provides independent support for Hopi, Yavapai, and Apache oral traditions recounting the destruction of the site. We explore how MOCA 43 contributes to a more complete picture of the introduction of leather footwear to the Southwest. This moccasin has early stylistic analogs in the Subarctic and is nearly identical to others found at sheltered sites such as the Promontory Caves in the eastern Great Basin in Utah and Franktown Cave on the western margin of the Great Plains in Colorado that date from the late twelfth to late thirteenth century. These occupations can be attributed to Apachean ancestors retaining aspects of Subarctic material culture prior to their differentiation into historically recognized Diné (Navajo) and Ndee (Apache) groups, and thus may reflect the movement of Athapaskan speakers from the northern Dene homeland into the Southwest.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Gilmore, Kevin; Jolie, Edward; Ives, John
- Units
- MOCA
- Keywords
- Ancestral Apache, archaeology, Castle A, moccasin, Montezuma Castle cliff dwelling, Montezuma Castle National Monument, Verde Valley