The Navahos call themselves “diné” meaning, simply “men” or “people.” All tribes of the Athapaskan linguistic stock designate themselves by a form of this same word, such as “dane, dene, dune, dindje, nde, tinneh, tunne, teni,” etc. The languages spoken by this diversified and widely distributed group, i.e., the Athapaskans, are sufficiently similar in vocabulary, phonetics and morphology, to amply justify the belief that they are descended from a common parent stock. This linguistic family occupies a tremendous sweep of territory from the northern interior of Alaska to Sonora and Chihuahua, more than 4000 miles from north to south.

Scant attention has been given to the archaeology of so inconspicuous a group as the nomadic Navaho in a land where great and imposing pueblos dominate the archaeological scene. Kidder was the first to point out what appeared to be remains of Navaho hogans in the upper San Juan Valley, New Mexico. As early as 1912 he reported visiting three ruins in the Gobernador and Largo canyons, consisting of settlements of pueblo type in association with a “number of ruined log structures closely resembling modern Navajo hogans.” One entire settlement in the San Rafael Canyon, including both Pueblo and Navaho type dwellings, was surrounded by high defense walls, without openings. These sites were recognizable as historic in time, due to the presence of metal axe marks on the timber, cow and sheep bones in the rubbish, and one fireplace of the “hood” type, alleged to be of Spanish derivation. Nelson, in 1916, reported similar types of ruins, not only in the Largo and Gobernador, but also in Carriso and Burns Canyons; and traces in the Puerco drainage.