Sonsela Buttes: Where Stars Fell Down to Earth

摘要

Among the many mythic, lithic features of the landscape in Navajo (Dine) country, Son-sela Buttes, located near beautiful Canyon de Chelly, has particularly interesting signifi-cance from the standpoint of Dine tradition, geography, and geology. Indeed, from the traditional point of view, one could even say that the buttes are significant in cosmogony. A Dine story and accompanying lore suggest that when Coyote flung stars across heaven, some fell back to Earth and landed where Sonsela Buttes now stand; thus the name, meaning "stars lying down." A layer of sandstone dating to 227 million years ago, responsible for depositing and protecting the world's most famous and beautiful petrified wood within what is now Petrified Forest National Park, also bears the name Sonsela. This article explores relationships between legend, geography, and geology relating to Sonsela Buttes.