Award-winning author James F. Brooks dissected the historicalevents, cultural rituals and gender roles that played into theintra-Indian violence of the colonial Southwest on Thursdayevening.

Giving a preview of his upcoming work “Mesa of Sorrows:Archaeology, Purity and Prophetic Violence in the AmericanSouthwest,” Brooks highlighted the massacre of Awat’oviPueblo in 1680 to an audience of 54 people in McCordAuditorium.

As the story goes, neighboring Hopi villagers stormedAwat’ovi at dusk during their ritual Christian sing-song andthrew burning packages into the church.

The Hopi villagers pillaged the pueblo and killed every manthere. Then they took women and children as captives beforedistributing them among neighboring villagers.

The most common explanation of the Awat’ovi massacre isthe Hopi villagers were merely ousting out the Franciscanmissionaries, who were attempting to re-establish the Catholicchurch in this pueblo.

“I don’t think that’s what happened,”Brooks said. “There’s a 20 year period ofuncertainty.”

Brooks backed his accusation with countless examples ofambiguous evidence, which were uncovered by archeologists from theearly 1900s while working on the Awat’ovi site for a briefperiod of time.

Skepticism lies in the 128 bodies excavated from the site.

Some of the bodies that were found had been buried 20 yearsafter the desecration of the church. These facts do not thoroughlyexplain what happened at Awat’ovi.

Due to the inconsistent evidence, Brooks believes the motivesbehind the Awat’ovi massacre might be linked to villagecleansing.

Awat’ovi was not an isolated, unusual event,” saidBrooks.

Village purifications often occurred through acts of violencecondoned by the village chief. Brooks described this type ofcleansing to take place when older married women of the villagewould engage in sexual relationships with younger men. The villagechief saw these acts as disrespectful. The chief would then askother neighboring tribes to destroy his village.

“Women were triggers for punishments that camedown,” Brooks said.

Brooks said his research of the Awat’ovi massacre helpedhim realize that a lot more was going on in the Southwest duringthis time period than he thought he knew.

“Evidence shows that these women were literally worked todeath,” Brooks said.

Oftentimes women were recruited by other villages through raidsand snatched not for marital gain, but to serve as indenturedpeople.

“When people start playing with power, really ugly thingscan happen,” Brooks said.

Before and after the lecture, Barnes and Noble sold Mr.Brooks’ latest book, “Captives and Cousins,”which has won seven major book awards.