Editing Kokopelli (section)

==Origins and development==
[[File:Kokopelli NWS.jpg|thumb|300px|Kokopelli pictograph "[[Cañon Pintado]]", ca. 850–1100 AD, [[Rio Blanco County, Colorado]]]]
[[File:Petroglyphs, Mortendad Cave.jpg|thumb|Petroglyph of Kokopelli in the "Rio Grande Style" of the ancestral Pueblo culture after the year 1300 AD; taken at Mortendad Cave near Los Alamos, NM]]

Kokopelli has been revered since at least the time of the [[Hohokam]], [[Quechan|Yuman]], and [[Ancestral Puebloan]] peoples. The first known images of him appear on [[Hohokam]] [[indigenous pottery of the Americas|pottery]] dated to sometime between 750 and 850 AD.

Kokopelli may have originally been a representation of [[Aztec]] traders, known as ''[[pochteca]]s'', who may have traveled to this region from northern [[Mesoamerica]]. These traders brought their goods in sacks slung across their backs and this sack may have evolved into Kokopelli's familiar hump; some tribes consider Kokopelli to have been a trader. These men may also have used flutes to announce themselves as friendly as they approached a settlement. This origin is still in doubt, however, since the first known images of Kokopelli predate the major era of Mesoamerican-Ancestral Pueblo peoples trade by several hundred years, as well as the [[Aztec Empire]] and its ''[[pochteca]]s''.<ref>{{Cite journal  | author = Mischa Titiev  | year = 1939  | title = The Story of Kokopele| journal = American Anthropologist  | volume =  41 | issue = 1  | pages = 91–98   | doi =  10.1525/aa.1939.41.1.02a00070  | doi-access =   }}</ref>

Many believe that Kokopelli was more than a trader, and more significantly, an important conveyor of information and trinkets from afar. As a storyteller par excellence, Kokopelli had the gift of languages, with a formidable repertoire of body-language storytelling skills to complement his many talents. Kokopelli's usual noisy announcement upon arrival secured both the identity, and therefore the safety, of his unique presence into a community. Often accompanied by an apprentice in his travels and trade, Kokopelli was important in linking distant and diverse communities together. In the South American Andes, the '[[Ekeko]]' character functioned in much the same way. Upon arrival, his banging and clanging of his wares dangling all about his person signaled to all that a night of entertainment and trade of his goods and talismans was at hand.

Even today, occasional outside visitors may be called or referred to as 'Kokopelli' when they bring news, stories, and trinkets from the outside world to share with the little pueblos or villages.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}

Another theory is that Kokopelli is actually an [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] insect. Many of the earliest depictions of Kokopelli make him very insect-like in appearance. The name "Kokopelli" may be a combination of "Koko", another Hopi and Zuni deity, and "pelli", the Hopi and Zuni word for the [[asilidae|robber fly]],<ref name="Koko4"/> an insect with a prominent [[proboscis]] and a prominently rounded back. A more recent [[etymology]] is that Kokopelli means literally "[[kachina]] hump". Because the Hopi were the tribe from whom the Spanish explorers first learned of the god, their name is the one most commonly used.
[[File:1500paperwaspmimic blepharepium sonorensisDSC0943.jpg|thumb|left|''Blepharepium sonorensis'', a desert robber fly, an insect theorized as possibly associated with Kokopelli]]

Kokopelli is one of the most easily recognized figures found in the [[petroglyph]]s and [[pictograph]]s of the Southwest.<ref name="Koko1"/> The earliest known petroglyph of the figure dates to about 1000 AD.<ref name="Koko1"/> The Spanish [[missionary|missionaries]] in the area convinced the Hopi craftsmen to usually omit the phallus from their representations of the figure. As with most kachinas, the Hopi Kokopelli was often represented by a human dancer. 

A similar humpbacked figure is found in artifacts of the [[Mississippian culture]] of the United States southeast.<ref name="Koko3">
{{Cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/ocmu/Elsewhere.htm |title=MISSISSIPPIAN CULTURES FROM ELSEWHERE |access-date=2008-05-31 |publisher=National Park Service (US Interior Dept.) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211110740/http://www.nps.gov/archive/ocmu/Elsewhere.htm |archive-date=February 11, 2007 }}</ref> Between approximately 1200 to 1400 AD, water vessels were crafted in the shape of a humpbacked woman. These forms may represent a cultural heroine or founding ancestor, and may also reflect concepts related to the life-giving blessings of water and fertility.[[File:Neutered_kokopelli_facing_left.png|thumb|A modern, commercialized Kokopelli figure]]