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Narbona Primero was a greatly respected and wealthy Navajo man born in 1766 and killed in 1849 in a confrontation with the US Army. He was not technically a chief...

In military or paramilitary organizations, such as police departments, a hierarchical organization of personnel exists, often called the chain of command....

The Chief Priest of the Bow is a Zuni ceremonial group leader, a high-ranking member of the religious hierarchy, and the Society of the Bow is one of the many Zuni...

The largest state in Northern Mexico. Chihuahua shares borders with the U.S states of New Mexico and Texas. This state is known for its U.S. border-patrol presence and...

Also spelled chʼįį́dii in Navajo, a “chindi” is the spirit of a dead person. Navajos are taught to avoid contact with the dead or enclosed places, like a hogan, where...

In Navajo culture, when a person dies inside a hogan, the traditional Navajo house, it is believed that the person’s spirit, known as “chindi,” can remain trapped in...

The only high school in Chinle Unified School District, located in Chinle, Arizona on the Navajo Nation Reservation in northeastern Arizona. This is a reservation...

The Navajo Nation is split into seven districts, each with a field station: Window Rock, Arizona (1), Shiprock, New Mexico (2), Crownpoint, New Mexico (3), Tuba City,...

A north-south trending valley located in northeast Arizona on the Navajo Nation Reservation. The Chinle Valley is 65 miles long and is delineated by Chinle Wash....

A community located a mile west of the mouth of Canyon de Chelly on the Navajo reservation in northeastern Arizona. In Navajo, the place is known as Ch’ínílį or “Water...

The waste product of stone work that involves chipping away at a core of hard rock. People in cultural groups around the world have developed stone-working techniques...

Chowilawu, which means "terrible power," is a Hopi kachina that is considered invisible and so is not often represented by kachina dolls or seen in public. This kachina...

The Chuska Mountain Range runs along the Arizona-New Mexico border and lays within Apache County in Arizona and McKinley and San Juan Counties in New Mexico. The Navajo...

A cigarette, often spelled cigaret in Tony Hillerman's mystery novels, is a small amount of finely cut dried tobacco rolled in small squares of thin paper into a...

Also known as concrete masonry units or cement blocks, cinder blocks are rectangular blocks made of concrete that are used in basic construction projects, such as wall...

Cirrus clouds form high in the atmosphere and are blown into their characteristic wispy streamers by high winds aloft. Cirrus clouds signal a change in the weather in...

Citizens Band, or CB, radio is a short-distance radio system that does not require a license and can be used by individuals or businesses for various communication...

An interrelated social group, whose connections derive from parentage as well as kinship. For different indigenous groups, clan structures develop and are expressed...

A European word and concept used to describe a member, often male, although the term is often considered gender neutral, of the same genetic or relational group....

The steep, vertical edge of a mountain, hill, or mesa. Cliffs expose the rock types and different earth sediments of the mountain, and can be created either by...

The Anasazi, or Ancestral Puebloan peoples, of the southwestern regions of the United States often built their houses on the sides of canyon cliffs using natural rock...

A giant creature from Zuni mythology that ate people, dead souls and thunderclouds beckoning rain. In the mythology, this monster devoured all the clouds that passed...

Located in northern Arizona, this county’s seat is in Flagstaff. The county encompasses Grand Canyon National Park as well as several Native reservations including...

The Coconino Rim is a common name for the rim of the southern portion of the Colorado Plateau in Arizona, within the Coconino National Forest. It is part of the...

The term, which is rarely in use these days, refers specifically to a female student at a co-educational institution such as a college or university with both male and...