- Leaving Wupatki
Villages like Wupatki were purposely settled and left for reasons we may never fully understand. After roughly 150 years here, maybe life ceased to be good. Perhaps the rumor of a better life in another village was worth investigating. Maybe, as some Hopi believe, the people stayed too long here and failed to lead moral and responsible lives. Ensuing social and environmental catastrophes were signals to resume migrations to find and settle the place where Hopi live to this day. By 1300, across the region people had moved into villages even larger than Wupatki. Those living here joined others at places like Homol'ovi along the Little Colorado River (near present day Winslow, Arizona) or at villages south of Walnut Canyon. According to clan histories, some went directly east to the Hopi Mesas. A few undoubtedly chose to stay behind. Today this village rests silent but not forgotten. Though it is no longer physically occupied, Hopi and Zuni people believe those who lived and died here remain as spiritual guardians. Descendants visit periodically to enrich their personal understanding of their clan histories. Wupatki is remembered and cared for, not abandoned.
"...for us life is shrouded in mystery and the world defies explanation...humans do not need to know everything there is to be known. The human past, we feel, is a universal past. No one can claim it, and no one can ever know it completely." -Rina Swentzell, Pueblo Santa Clara - Introduction to the Trail
Length: 1/2 mile (0.8 km) round trip. Time required: 45 minutes Terrain: Paved with some steps and inclines. Wheelchair accessible to overlook, beyond with assistance.
The farming settlement of Wupatki was unique. To appreciate why, we have to start by thinking big. From roughly 400 to 1700, culture in the Southwest was distinguished by farming, pottery, villages, seasonal moves, and large scale migrations. Major settlement systems were in place by 1100 in Chaco Canyon, the Phoenix Basin, and northern Mesoamerica. With favorable climates for agriculture and room to grow, the Southwest's farming population was reaching a peak. Until the mid-1100s, Wupatki remained a "frontier" between established groups, defined by archeologists as Sinagua, Cohonina, and Kayenta. Then, in one of the warmest, driest places on the Colorado Plateau, life flourished. This became a densely populated landscape supporting a complex society where people, goods, and ideas converged. - 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 - Pithouse Model
Pithouse model built by Christian E. Downum and photographed by Dan Boone/Ryan Belnap, Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University. - Pithouse Model
Pithouse model built by Christian E. Downum and photographed by Dan Boone/Ryan Belnap, Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University. - Pithouse Model
Pithouse model built by Christian E. Downum and photographed by Dan Boone/Ryan Belnap, Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University. - Pithouse Model
Pithouse model built by Christian E. Downum and photographed by Dan Boone/Ryan Belnap, Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University. - Pithouse Model
Pithouse model built by Christian E. Downum and photographed by Dan Boone/Ryan Belnap, Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University. - Macaw Skull
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan (Wupatki Pueblo, A.D. 1130 – A.D. 1260) and Hohokam Description: Mesoamerican macaw skull found in Wupatki Pueblo. Perhaps traded through the Hohokam to Northern peoples, live macaws were kept by peoples throughout the Southwest. Collection: Museum of Northern Arizona: Wupatki. - Community Room
The reconstructed circular structure below you resembles a great kiva, a special room used for rituals and ceremonies. However, excavators found no evidence of a roof or other floor features typical of a kiva. Archeologists speculate that this open-air community room could have served as a central gathering place. Imagine voices carrying to others assembled on the pueblo roof tops. People may have come from nearby and distant villages to participate in ceremonies held here. Maybe rituals focused the community and solved problems, or served to redistribute materials and food. - Big Pots
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan/Cohonina/Kayenta Description: Intact prehistoric pottery is an extremely rare find. These vessels were uncovered in February 2009 from deep cinder deposits. The pot on the left is a Cohonina-style vessel, while the pot on the right is Kayenta-style. The date ranges for the two pottery types overlap between A.D. 1075-1125, allowing archaeologists to estimate when these pots were made, used, and buried together. Collection: These pots are on loan from the U.S. Forest Service to the National Park Service for the enjoyment of visitors at Wupatki National Monument. - Stone Hoe
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Stone hoe made from a hard basalt. Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument. - Puebloan Knife
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Bifacial Pueblo-period knife made from agatized wood and found in Wupatki Pueblo. Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog card - Fire Stick Fragment and Hearth Board
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan (Wupatki Pueblo, A.D. 1130 – A.D. 1260) Description: This hearth board and wooden fire drill would have been been used together to create fire by friction such as that caused when using a bow drill. Dimensions: (hearth board) 9.1 cm long (3.58 in); (drill) 6.0 (L) x 1.8 (diameter) cm (2.36 x 0.71 in). Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog cards - hearth, drill). - Awls
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Bone awls fashioned from animal long bones. Hundreds of similar awls, made largely from the leg bones of pronghorn antelope, were found in Wupatki Pueblo. Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument.