Tree ring studies indicate that people lived here for about twenty years beginning around 1185 A.D. This ruin is one of about 4300 archeological sites recorded within the Grand Canyon.
On a clear day, you can see the San Francisco Peaks (see the appropriate photo in the Sunset Crater Volcano post), considered sacred by several tribes. In the Hopi tradition, the katsinas (kachinas) or spirits, live in these peaks during the winter. The spirits bring rain and other blessings to the people. The Hopi are one of the more than twenty Puebloan Indian nations that are decendents of the people who lived here. The Hopi believe that the actual place of emergence for their people into this world is located deep within the Grand Canyon.
Only a small portion of the rooms in the Pueblo have been partially excavated. The photo above is of the remains of the Kiva, or ceremonial chamber, which is one of the cultural signatures of the ancestral Puebloan people. There is a "bench" that encircles slightly more than half of the interior. Braces were placed along this bench to support the upper structure, and were covered with brush & mud to provide the walls and roof (which are no longer in existence). One entered through a hole in the roof by means of a ladder. This is also the means of entering, and exiting, the dwellings.
