Breaking Dawn

Should this be called 'Breaking Dawn' or 'Breaking Sunset'? Either way, as you probably already know, about an hour before sunset or after the... more

by Jon Burch Photography

Title

Breaking Dawn

Artist

Jon Burch Photography

Medium

Photograph - Digital Capture And Enhancement

Description

Should this be called 'Breaking Dawn' or 'Breaking Sunset'? Either way, as you probably already know, about an hour before sunset or after the morning dawn is a good time to photograph. Making images during these "golden hours" can produce striking views. This one is looking toward red rock formations close to the town of Sedona, Arizona near Schnebly Hill Road. Sedona was named after Sedona Arabelle Miller Schnebly (1877−1950), the wife of Theodore Carlton Schnebly, the city's first postmaster, who was celebrated for her hospitality and industriousness.

The first documented human presence in Sedona area dates to 11500 to 9000 B.C. It was not until 1995 when a Clovis projectile point was discovered in Honanki which revealed the presence of the Paleo-Indian. Those people were big-game hunters around 9000 B.C., by this time, the pre-historic Archaic people appeared in the Verde Valley. They were hunter-gatherers and their presence in the area was longer than in other areas of the Southwest most likely because of the ecological diversity and large amount of resources. There is quite a bit of rock art left by the Archaic people around Sedona in places such as Palatki and Honanki.

Around 650 A.D., the Sinagua people entered the Verde Valley. Their culture is known for its art such as pottery, basketry and their masonry leaving a lot of rock art, pueblos and cliff dwellings such as Montezuma Well, Honanki, Palatki and Tuzigoot especially in the later periods in the area. The Sinagua abandoned the Verde Valley about 1400 A.D. Researchers believe the Sinagua and other clans moved to the Hopi mesas in Arizona and the Zuni and other pueblos in New Mexico. The Yavapai, also nomadic hunter-gatherers, came in from the West when the Sinagua were still there in the Verde Valley around 1300 A.D. Some archaeologists place the Apache arrival in the Verde Valley around 1450 A.D. as they were nomadic or seminomadic and traveled over large areas.

The Yavapai and Apache tribes were forcibly removed from the Verde Valley in 1876, to the San Carlos Indian Reservation, 180 miles southeast. About 1,500 people were marched, in midwinter, to San Carlos during which several hundred people lost their lives. The survivors were interned for 25 years before about 200 Yavapai and Apache people returned to the Verde Valley in 1900. These refugees have since intermingled making them a single culturally distinct political entity.

Image copyright 2013 Jon Burch Photography

Uploaded

March 28th, 2013