- Status
- Room Beams, Wupatki Pueblo
Description: Framework of roof reconstruction at Wupatki Pueblo, showing placement of reconstructed primary and secondary beams. In the 1930s, using information gained from excavations, Museum of Northern Arizona archaeologists reconstructed the roofs of Wupatki Pueblo's rooms, attempting to match the original 12th and 13th century construction materials as closely as possible. Date: 1930s. Collection: Wupatki National Monument (Catalog No. WUPA 19819). - Overlook Interpretative Panel
For today's Hopi people, the villages of Wupatki remain among the most important "footprints" of the ancestral clans. It was on this landscape, in the shadow of the San Francisco Peaks, that a number of migrating clans met and merged. Significant events, and new traditions and ceremonies resulted. The Zuni and other Puebloan groups (Acoma, Laguna, and Rio Grande) share Wupatki's history as they share a belief in a common origin that begins with their ancestors. Stories of Wupatki also exist among non-Puebloan groups (Havasupai, Yavapai, Hualapai, Southern Paiute, and Navajo) whose ancestors interacted with Puebloan ancestors. The dates for these interactions are unknown. - Close View of Bone Sewing Needle
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan (Wupatki Pueblo, A.D. 1130 – A.D. 1260) Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog card). Description: Close-up view of the bone sewing needle and yucca thread shown in the previous slide. Note the scratches in the eye of the needle from the drill used to bore the hole and the abrasions along the bottom margin of the needle resulting from smoothing/shaping of the bone. - Carved Stone Pendant
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan Description: Carved green stone pendant. Provenience unknown. Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument. - The Peshlakais
- Midden (Trash)
Along this side of the pueblo, people repeatedly dumped their trash, forming a midden. Refuse tells us much of what we know about past life. Each layer of food debris yields facts about diet, nutrition, and changing reliance on resources throughout the history of the village. Broken pottery and worn out tools reveal relative dates of occupation and technological changes through time. When Wupatki was excavated, artifacts and food remains were collected and stored but not studied for years. Today, rather than excavating new material, we study old collections to learn how people altered or managed plant and animal populations to their advantage. This midden has not been excavated. Walking off trail here, or through any midden, mixes the upper layer of trash with lower levels, destroying the context that is so important to understanding past lifeways. - The Blowhole Interpretative Panel
This blowhole – a crevice in the earth’s crust that appears to breathe – is one of several found in the Wupatki area. It connects to an underground passage – size, depth, and complexity unknown – called an earthcrack. Earthcracks resulted from earthquake activity in the Kaibab Limestone bedrock and have enlarged over time. Archaeologists have yet to uncover any evidence of prehistoric structures or uses at the blowhole. Its connection to the Wupatki Pueblo remains a mystery. Today, the Hopi descendants of these early people, refer to the blowhole as the breath of “Yaapontsa,” the wind spirit. They and other American Indians attach a spiritual significance to these features. - Cotton Cloth
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan and Hohokam Description: (left)weft wrap, open-weave cotton cloth recovered from the Wupatki Pueblo trash midden; (right) plain-weave cotton cloth dyed red. The North Country is too cold for cotton to grow, so the cloth, or the cotton from which it was woven, was likely traded to the Sinagua by their southern neighbors, the Hohokam. Dimensions: (left) 8 cm x 4.5 cm x 0.1 cm; (right) 14.0 cm x 12.5 cm. Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog card 1, catalog card 2). - Ceramic Spindle Whorl
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan/Kayenta Description: Black-on-white spindle whorl from the trash between rooms in Wupatki Pueblo. Dimensions: 1.96 cm wide x 0.2 cm thick. Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog card). - Limestone Nose Plug
Cultural Period: Ancestral Puebloan (Wupatki Pueblo, A.D. 1130 – A.D. 1260) Description: Limestone nose plug from Wupatki Pueblo. Dimensions: 3.7 cm (H) x 2.2 cm (W) x 1.7 cm (T). Collection: On display at Wupatki National Monument (catalog card). - 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. - Windows Past
- What was the climate like
- New Roof
Description: Crew reconstructing roof at Wupatki Pueblo, 1933-34. They are attempting to use native materials that would match the original materials used in construction of the pueblo in the 12th or 13th centuries AD. In the 1930s, the Museum of Northern Arizona reconstructed the newly-excavated Wupatki Pueblo by rebuilding walls to their presumed original heights and adding roofs to the rooms. For a while in the 1930s and 1940s, a few of the rooms served as the residence for the Wupatki NPS ranger and his wife. The practice of rebuilding pueblos was discontinued in the 1950s, and the reconstructed portions of walls and roofs were removed. The condition of Wupatki today is similar to how it appeared when first excavated in the 1930s and again in the 1950s. Date: 1930s. Collection: Wupatki National Monument (Catalog No. WUPA 20074).