Witnessing the beauty of these two rivers merging amid green, brown and red-orange land and waters, it's no wonder that the ancestors of Mexicans (Mexicas, Aztecas or Nahuatl peoples) once called this Four Corners region of the United States "Huehuetlapallan" (old, old, colorful land).
Finding Concepcion -- which seems to mark the confluence, rather than indicating a lost village -- signals the beginning, rather than the end, of our search for the ancient homeland site. It began several years ago when we came across the map that is attached to the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
This trip also took us to nearby Sego Canyon, which scholars Cecilio Orozco and Alfonso Rivas Salmon have visited for the past 20 years. Glyphs there, dated back to 500 B.C., they posit, correspond to the Venusian calendar -- markings that are central features of the Aztec calendar.
In this recent trip, we sought evidence that some of the Mexicans' ancestors once inhabited Huehuetlapallan. We've also recently ventured to other ancient sites (Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, Anazasi Heritage Center and the National Navajo Monument) and to research and archival institutions. What we've found are older maps and documents that refer to the homeland of the Aztecs -- a place called Teguayo, near Lake Copalla (purported to be Utah Lake). In Explorers, Traders and Slavers, the author, Joseph P. Sanchez, cites various documents, including one from 1686 that refers to Teguayo as being the homeland of the Tigua and Tewa peoples and the ancient peoples of Mexico, Guatemala and Peru.
These journeys have exposed us to many rich oral and written native traditions, including those of the Hopis, that speak to ancient migration stories. One even speaks of Moctezuma I as having been born in Huehuetlapallan. Attesting to the ancient belief that Mexicans originated from this region -- prior to the famed Aztlan of the Aztecs, which is purportedly farther south -- some indigenous groups are planning a pilgrimage this summer, commencing in Mexico City and concluding in the Four Corners region.
What's missing from these beliefs, however, is a time line regarding these ancient migration trails. What is known is that the old "Spanish Trail," which spans the entire Southwest, is actually an assortment of old Spanish mining trails that are superimposed over ancient indigenous trade routes.
Research conclusively debunks the racist mantra of telling Mexicans and Central Americans to "go back to where they came from." The Southwest is where they come from. It also shows the need for further research, particularly migration studies of the Americas. Vine Deloria Jr., a well-respected native scholar, has pointed out that most indigenous peoples in the Americas do not accept the Bering Strait theory that all native people came across that northern route beginning at about 12000 B.C. Most have migration stories that speak to different origins. Even many scientists now acknowledge that there was human habitation in the Americas at least 40,000 years ago. Additionally, in Veracruz, Mexico, the state museum there shows a collection of ancient indigenous statues of people from the world over -- seemingly a testament to pre-Columbian contact between all peoples.
The call to study the origins and migration of humanity in the Americas should not exclude indigenous scholars. In fact, they should lead these studies, lest we get sidetracked by controversies such as that of the 9,200-year-old Kennewick Man. In this controversy in the Northwest, some archeologists claim he's actually Caucasian.
Missing from our basic knowledge of the Americas is a coherent narrative of where each indigenous group migrated to and from, even after the arrival of Europeans. Interestingly, we are familiar with stories (the work of University of Houston professor Emilio Zamora) of Nahuatl-speaking peoples fleeing from Spaniards in all directions upon first contact, with some winding up in what is now Texas.
We are confident that a migration-studies discipline of the Americas will enrich humanity. Ultimately, we'll learn that all human beings are indeed connected, to each other and to the Earth, and that there are no such things as aliens anywhere on this planet. One needs only to go to the colorful confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers to understand this connection.
[Source: The Salt Lake Tribune / UT - April 2 1999 ]
Utah Lake: Homeland of the Aztecs
After an arduous, five-mile, mountainous hike, we arrive 1,000 feet above the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers in Utah. The awe-inspiring view of the two rivers merging appears to be "Concepcion," which is adjacent to the "Ancient Homeland of the Aztecs" site on the 1847 Disturnell map.
[SLT headline: Study of Ancient Migration Trails Teaches That All Human Beings Are Connected]
