LibGuides: Indigenous Peoples in Arizona: Ancient Dwellings

PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK - AGATE HOUSE PUEBLO

near Holbrook in Northern Arizona

"Agate House Pueblo is a partially reconstructed Puebloan building in Petrified Forest National Park, built almost entirely of petrified wood. The eight-room pueblo has been dated to approximately the year 900 and occupied through 1200, of the Pueblo II and Pueblo III periods. The agatized wood was laid in a clay mortar, in lieu of the more usual sandstone-and-mortar masonry of the area.
The ruins of Agate House were reconstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933-34 under the direction of C.B. Cosgrove Jr. of the New Mexico Laboratory of Anthropology. Room 7 was fully reconstructed with a new roof. Room 2's walls were rebuilt to a height of five feet, but not roofed, and the remaining walls were rebuilt to a height of two or three feet."
Wikipedia

Agate House window. By Marine 69-71 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77300369

Agate House exterior. By Marine 69-71 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agate_House_Pueblo#/media/File:Petrified_Forest_National_Park-Agate_House-900-3.jpg

Agate House rooftop entry. By Marine 69-71 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77300371

Agate House floor landing where meals are cooked. By Marine 69-71 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77300375

Agate House interior wall. By Marine 69-71 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77300374

Agate House Pueblo-Petrified Forest National Park
Wikipedia
Agate House Pueblo - Petrified National Forest
"Ancestral Puebloan people used petrified wood for a variety of purposes including tools such as projectile points, knives, and scrapers. Agate House demonstrates another innovative use of petrified wood: as a building material. The eight-room pueblo was built and occupied sometime between 1050 and 1300 in a location near agricultural fields and petrified wood deposits. The size of the structure and time necessary to build and maintain it indicates that this was likely a year-round residence for a single family, rather than the temporary residences or field houses common at that time. It may have even served as a meeting place for the surrounding community. The scarcity of artifacts found at Agate House suggest a relatively brief occupation.
Agate House now stands alone on top of a small hill in Rainbow Forest, but it was likely part of a much larger community. Since its excavation in the 1930s, hundreds of similar petrified wood structure sites have been found in the park. Many date to the same time period (Pueblo II-Pueblo III). Though built using original materials, the 1930s reconstruction is not a completely accurate replication of the original structure. Still it enables us to envision the daily lives of people that called it home."
National Park Service

NAVAJO NATIONAL MONUMENT

Keet Seel, Betatakin and Inscription House ruins

near Kayenta on the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona

"Navajo National Monument is a National Monument located within the northwest portion of the Navajo Nation territory in northern Arizona, which was established to preserve three well-preserved cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan people: Keet Seel (Broken Pottery) (Kitsʼiil), Betatakin (Ledge House) (Bitátʼahkin), and Inscription House (Tsʼah Biiʼ Kin). The monument is high on the Shonto plateau, overlooking the Tsegi Canyon system, west of Kayenta, Arizona. It features a visitor center with a museum, three short self-guided trails, two small campgrounds, and a picnic area.
The Sandal Trail is an accessible self-guided 1.3 mi (2.1 km) roundtrip trail that ends at an overlook of the Betatakin ruins across the 560-foot-deep (170 m) Betatakin Canyon. The overlook is the only point in the monument where visitors can view the cliff dwelling other than on the guided tours. Rangers guide visitors on free (3-5 hour long) tours of the Betatakin cliff dwellings and on 17 mi (27 km) roundtrip back-country hikes to the Keet Seel. The Inscription House site, further west, has been closed to public access for many years. "
Wikipedia

View of the ruins from an overlook. By LBM1948 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90179171

Keet Seel - Navajo National Monument - Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=714090

Keet Seel - north end interior. By PatrickRapps - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=94812985

Betatakin, By Jon Sullivan - http://pdphoto.org/PictureDetail.php?mat=pdef&pg=7972, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1009888

Betatakin. By Digitalwiz42 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=95071761

Navajo National Monument
Wikipedia
Navajo National Monument
The Canyons that Have Been Occupied for Centuries: The Hopi, San Juan Southern Paiute, Zuni, and Navajo are tribes that have inhabited the canyons for centuries. Springs fed into farming land on the canyon floor and homes were built in the natural sandstone alcoves. The cliff dwellings of Betatakin, Keet Seel, and Inscription House were last physically occupied around 1300 AD but the villages have a spiritual presence that can still be felt today.
National Park Service
Inscription House Ruins
"Inscription House was partly built using a form of adobe brick. Unlike modern adobe bricks, these have ample amounts of grasses.
Inscription House derives its name from an inscription scratched into the clay plaster of a wall. It reads, “Shapeiro Ano Dom 1661.” An intrepid early Spanish explorer or missionary ... must have entered the canyon in which this ruin is located and paused at the long-abandoned pueblo to scratch a record of his visit. So far as recorded it was not visited again until June, 1909...
At Inscription House, the problems of Keet Seel were compounded by the nearby trading post and environmental problems. Since the 1930s, erosion had been visible in the wash below Inscription House. In the early 1940s, the wash eroded at the rate of about twenty feet per annum. By 1944, it was “positively dangerous” to reach Inscription House...
Vandalism became more common at Inscription House in the early 1950s...."
July 16, 2012 by Harold Carey Jr.
Source: National Park Service
Inscription House was and still remains closed to the public.

WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT

near Flagstaff in Northern Arizona

Wupatki was first inhabited around 500 AD. Wupatki, which means "Tall House" in the Hopi language, is a multistory Sinagua pueblo dwelling comprising over 100 rooms and a community room and the northernmost ballcourt ever discovered in North America, creating the largest building site for nearly 50 miles. Nearby secondary structures have also been uncovered, including two kiva-like structures. A major population influx began soon after the eruption of Sunset Crater in the 11th century (between 1040 and 1100), which blanketed the area with volcanic ash, improving agricultural productivity and the soil's ability to retain water. By 1182, approximately 85 to 100 people lived at Wupatki Pueblo, but by 1225, the site was permanently abandoned. Based on a careful survey of archaeological sites conducted in the 1980s, an estimated 2,000 people moved into the area during the century following the eruption. Agriculture was based mainly on maize and squash raised on the arid land without irrigation. In the Wupatki site, the residents harvested rainwater due to the rarity of springs.
The dwelling's walls were constructed from thin, flat blocks of the local Moenkopi sandstone, giving the pueblos their distinct red color. Held together with mortar, many of the walls still stand. Each settlement was constructed as a single building, sometimes with scores of rooms. The largest settlement on monument territory is the Wupatki Ruin, built around a natural rock outcrop. With more than 100 rooms, this ruin is believed to be the region's tallest and largest structure for its time period. The monument also contains ruins identified as a ball court, similar to those found in Mesoamerica and in the Hohokam ruins of southern Arizona; this is the northernmost example of this kind of structure. This site also contains a geological blowhole,from which wind escapes from a cave system.
Although it is no longer physically occupied, Hopi believe the people who lived and died here remain as spiritual guardians. Stories of Wupatki are passed on among Hopi, Navajo, Zuni, and other Native American tribes in the region. Members of the Hopi Bear, Katsina, Lizard, Rattlesnake, Sand, Snow, and Water Clans return periodically to enrich their personal understanding of their clan history.
View from atop a Wupatki Pueblo

Amidst what would seem a generally inhospitable area due to the lack of food and water sources, several artifacts have been located at the site from distant locations, implying that the people who inhabited Wupatki were involved in trade. During numerous excavations stretching back to the site' exploration in the mid-1800s, items from as far as the Pacific and the Gulf Coasts have been located at the site, such as many different varieties of pottery and seashells.

Wikipedia

Wupatki Ruins panorama. By Stephen McCluskey - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=795331

Wupatki Pueblo. By Scott Blanksteen - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51866000

Wupatki Ruins - Box Canyon Ruins. By Like I Care at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6982446

Wupatki Ruins Ball Court. By Dspetc - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4968461

Wupatki National Monument-National Park Service
"Nestled between the Painted Desert and ponderosa highlands of northern Arizona, Wupatki is a landscape of legacies. Ancient pueblos dot red-rock outcroppings across miles of prairie. Where food and water seem impossible to find, people built pueblos, raised families, farmed, traded, and thrived. Today, if you linger and listen, earth and artifacts whisper their stories to us still."
Wupatki National Monument - Wikipedia
Wikipedia

Indigenous Peoples in Arizona: Ancient Dwellings

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Ancestral Dwellings

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