Tours in Sedona :: NATIVE AMERICAN RUINS AND PETROGLYPHS

Wupatki National Monument is one of several sites preserving pueblos (houses) of ancient peoples, but unlike the, Montezuma Castle, Montezuma Well, and Tuzigoot Monuments where there is only one main building, here there are many ruins scattered over a large area of desert northeast of Flagstaff. The pueblos all have a distinctive red color and were made from the local Moenkopi sandstone.

In total there are more than 800 identified ruins spread around many miles of desert, but five of the largest are close to the main road. All the houses were inhabited by the Anasazi and Sinagua Indians during the 12th and 13th centuries - the settlement of this region was influenced by the eruption of nearby Sunset Crater Volcano during the winter of 1064-5, as the resulting ash and lava made the surrounding land infertile and so the residents of that area moved further a field into land previously considered too dry and barren. In the early 13th century all the pueblos were abandoned, as were most other settlements in this part of the Southwest, although it is believed that the present day Hopi are descended from the former inhabitants of this region.

The Wupatki Pueblo area is 2,000 feet lower than the volcano so the vegetation is quite different - the loop road descends quite quickly through fir and pine trees, to the arid scrub-covered desert. The biggest ruins are the 3-storey Wupatki Pueblo (Hopi for 'big house') that was once the home of 300 people. The house is situated on the edge of a small plateau and has unobstructed views eastwards towards the Painted Desert and the Little Colorado River. Other included sites are a masonry ballpark - a recreational feature usually only found much further south, and a natural blowhole. This is a vent of unknown depth linked to underground caves which either blows out or sucks in air, depending on the ambient pressure.