On a couple of occasions, I challenged my Navajo guides with this paradox. In Canyon de Chelly in 2008, on a blissful hike down the White Sands trail with Kalvin Watchman in charge—a hike I could not have undertaken without a Navajo guide—I queried him out of the blue: “How long have the Diné lived in Canyon de Chelly?” Without missing a beat, Kalvin answered, “Since the 1300s.” I probed on: “Were the Anasazi still here when the Navajo arrived?” “No,” said Kalvin.
