- The Blowhole
This intriguing geological feature was unearthed during the 1965 excavations of the Wupatki Ballcourt. After its discovery, the National Park Service bricked in the opening, giving the blowhole the appearance it has today and allowing visitors the experience of feeling the rush of air from the opening. It is unknown if the people of Wupatki were aware of the blowhole, and if they were, what significance the feature may have held to prehistoric people. - Test Trenches
Description: Test trenches through the ballcourt at Wupatki Pueblo. Date: 1960s. Collection: Wupatki National Monument (Catalog No. WUPA 24362). - Terraced Rooms
Notice how people shaped their lives to this land. Sun, water, wind, and earth influenced decisions. Using the red sandstone outcrop as a backbone, and its naturally fractured blocks as bricks, masons laid stone rooms up and down the length of the formation. High walls on the north and west sides blunted prevailing winds. Terraced rooms to the south and east bathed in winter sun. Flat roofs served as water systems, collecting precipitation and directing it to storage pots. Wupatki Pueblo stood three stories high in places. Double walls were filled with a rubble core and were about 6 feet (2 meters) high; roofs were constructed with timbers, cross-laid with smaller beams or reeds, and finished with grass and mud. There were no exterior doorways at ground level. Built out in the open, Wupatki is far more typical of 12th century structures than a cliff dwelling. Cliff dwellings make up only a fraction of known southwestern archeological sites.
"...The family, the dwelling house and the field are inseparable, because the woman is the heart of these, and they rest with her... The man builds the house but the woman is the owner, because she repairs and preserves it." -A Hopi view of the community, presented to "the Washington Chiefs," 1894 - Survey in the 1930s
Description: Charlie R. Steen and Robert S. Harris from the Museum of Northern Arizona, conducting archaeological survey in the vicinity of Nalakihu and Citadel pueblos. Date: Spring 1934. Collection: Wupatki National Monument (Catalog No. WUPA 19729). - Sunset Red Bowl
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan/Sinagua (A.D. 1064-1300) Description: Sunset Red bowl. This bowl provides an example of Sinagua-style pottery. Dimensions: 12.7(H) x 12.7(W) x 6.35(D) cm (5 x 5 x 2.5 in). Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog card); on loan from the Museum of Northern Arizona. - Sunset Crater and Wupatki
The black cinders blanketing the ground remain from the eruption of nearby Sunset Crater volcano some time between 1040 and 1100. The settlement of Wupatki followed but it's uncertain if there was a direct cause and effect. People may have been drawn by the eruption and stayed. Or, perhaps those displaced by the eruption moved to this lower elevation. However, as many as three generations may have passed before anyone decided to live here. We do know that ash from the eruption, in a thin uniform layer, retained precious soil moisture providing a window of improved farming potential in this semi-arid landscape. - Sunset Corrugated Bowl
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan/Sinagua (Wupatki Pueblo, A.D. 1130 – A.D. 1260) Description: Sunset Corrugated bowl collected from a trail leading to the ballcourt at Wupatki Pueblo. The vessel was restored after collection. The catalog card identifies this vessel as Elden Corrugated, a similar ware from the same general area (both types are examples of Sinagua-style pottery). NPS archaeologist R. Dorr only recently noted the misidentification. Dimensions: 9.5 cm (H) x 11 cm (W) x 0.7 cm (T) (3.74 x 4.33 x 0.28 in). Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog card). - Summer Monsoon, Wukoki
Location: Wukoki Pueblo, Wupatki National Monument. Description: The landscape surrounding Wukoki during summer monsoons. - Summer Monsoon, Citadel Ruin
Location: Citadel, Wupatki National Monument. Description: Isolated summer monsoon just north of the San Francisco Peaks, as viewed from Citadel Ruin. - Strategic Crossroads
- Storage and Food Processing
Numerous storage rooms within the pueblo attest to a constant preparedness for crop failure. People likely had some of last year's corn on hand at this year's harvest. Perhaps this room served for storage and food processing. Imagine corn stacked like cordwood, or gathered foods such as piñon nuts, rice grass seeds, and juniper berries secured in clay seed jars. Water jars undoubtedly sat here too. Hours spent at these grinding stones reduced corn and seeds to flour. - Stone Ring
Cultural Period: Unknown Description: Stone ring described in the catalog card as potentially hematite, but more likely steatite. Unfortunately, provenience information for the ring is unknown, so culture, period, and location of origin cannot be established. Dimensions: 0.75 cm (W) (30 in). Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog card). - Stone Pendant
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan (Wupatki Pueblo, A.D. 1130 – A.D. 1260) Description: Carved stone pendant from Wupatki Pueblo. Dimensions: 8.8(H) x 8.2(W) x 0.5(T)cm (3.46 x 3.23 x 0.20 in). Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog card). - Stone Pendant
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan (Wupatki Pueblo, A.D. 1130 – A.D. 1260) Description: Ovoid stone pendant with a drilled suspension hole; found in Wupatki Pueblo. Dimensions: 1.9 cm x 1.5 cm (0.75 x 0.59 in). Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog card). - Stone Hoe
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Stone hoe made from a hard basalt. Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument.