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The reservation's 12 principal villages are strung like desert pearls along Route 264 as it climbs over and around three sheer-walled mesas collectively known as Tuuwanasavi, the center of the earth in Hopi culture. Old Orayvi, on the more westerly Third Mesa (50mi east of Tuba City), was first occupied about 1100 and is presumed to be the oldest continuously inhabited village in the US. Walpi, on First Mesa (19mi east of Old Orayvi), dates from about 1700. Both villages appear today as weathered dwellings of mud-plaster and hand-hewn stone, though pickup trucks and TV antennae are signs of modern influence.The Hopi Tribal Council meets at Kykotsmovi, also known as New Oraibi; but a better place for visitors to get their bearings is the modern Hopi Cultural Center, 11mi east of there. The museum (attached to a 33-room motel) has excellent exhibits on Hopi history and lifestyle, and tribal artisans market their distinctive silver jewelry and wood carvings, including kachinas. Other craftspeople place signs in windows of their homes, offering goods for sale.Highly traditional and wary, the Hopi welcome visitors but request that no photography, tape recording or even sketching be done in the villages. Ceremonial dances, always of spiritual significance, may be open to visitors (inquire locally); they are announced only a week in advance, in accordance with ritual practices.