Pueblo Ruins in Wupatki National Monument

Yesterday I visited the Wupatki National Monument, about an hour north of Flagstaff (marked by the A below):

It will be the first visit of many visits. Situated between the San Francisco Peaks and the Coconino National Forest to the west and south, dominated by volcanoes and Ponderosa pine trees, and the Little Colorado River and Navajo Nation to the east, Wupatki is a transitional landscape between volcanic and desert. It is managed by the National Parks service because of its exceptional beauty and because of its cultural heritage.

Wupatki (pronounced Woo-Pot-Kee) National Monument protects the ancient dwellings of puebloan peoples. I found the remains of brick pueblos (villages) utterly captivating.

Below is a ruined Wupatki pueblo community hall, which is evidence of a large farming community which dates back to the 1100s:

This structure is seriously cool. It consists of tens of individual rooms, some which would have been at least 2 storeys supported by wooden beams. It is build from little bricks and clay mortar very similar to those used today:

It's much larger than other dwellings found nearby, so it was probably an important meeting and trading place, which is also evidenced by 2 large open-air walled meeting rooms nearby. It is thought that the puebloan peoples migrated here from even more arid regions on the Colorado Plateau, before moving on and establishing other communities by about 1250. What's interesting is that this huge community was established and obviously thriving in a time of volcanic activity (just south and west is Sunset Crater Volcano which was active around that time). Perhaps all the volcanic activity promoted rainfall which aided crop growing.

A few miles away are remains of the Lomaki Pueblo ("pretty village"):

When building this 9-room, 2 storey dwelling in the 1190s, the Pueblo people used existing rock outcrops as structural support and to cut down the amount of labour required to build the homes. It is immediately adjacent to a 3/4 mile long earth crack in the Kaibab limestone which was probably created during the volcanic eruptions, possibly because it acted temporarily as a water conduit?

Fascinating stuff, and wonderfully preserved and accessible. The descendents of the people who built these pueblos still live nearby, and include the Hopi, Zuni and Navajo people. I'm looking forward to learning more about these people and their history whilst I'm here.