Title: Wupatki Ruins Trail - Wupatki National Monument, Arizona
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Language: English
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                          WUPATKI RUINS TRAIL


                       WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT


                 15 CENTS IF YOU TAKE THIS BOOKLET HOME

                                                   21st EDITION—4-76—14M

    [Illustration: _South portion of Wupatki before excavation._]

Wupatki National Monument is one of 299 areas (as of 1974) administered
by the National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior. These
include such magnificent scenic areas as Grand Canyon and Yosemite
National Parks, and other Parks and Monuments set aside for outstanding
scenic, scientific, and historical values.

The National Park Service has the responsibility of preserving the Parks
and Monuments in their natural, unspoiled condition and of making them
available for your enjoyment in such manner as to leave them unimpaired
for the enjoyment and inspiration of future generations. To achieve this
high purpose such destructive activities as woodcutting, hunting,
grazing, mining and even flower-picking are prohibited. We hope you will
join with us in protecting Wupatki National Monument by taking only
pictures and inspiration and leaving only footprints and good will.

The uniformed employees of the National Park Service are here to serve
you and will welcome the opportunity to make your stay in Wupatki more
enjoyable.


                         KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL



                              INTRODUCTION


This booklet is intended to supplement the free leaflet which gives the
general story of Wupatki National Monument. It might be useful to read
that leaflet before going through the ruin itself. We would appreciate
it if you would sign the register.

The trail will lead you around Wupatki Ruin. Numbered stakes on the
trail correspond to numbered paragraphs in this booklet, which will help
you understand the features you will see.

Spend as much time in the ruin as you like; all we ask is your
cooperation in keeping off the walls and not removing pottery fragments,
rocks, plants, or other material from the area. Thank you. PLEASE STAY
ON TRAIL!



                          WUPATKI RUINS TRAIL


    [Illustration: _Wupatki Ruin with “amphitheater” in lower right._]


1. Wupatki Ruin.   From this point is an excellent view of the entire
ruin, including the “amphitheater” and ballcourt. At its peak of
occupation, during the 1100’s, the village contained over 100 rooms with
250-300 inhabitants. It is the largest of more than 800 ruins within the
boundaries of Wupatki National Monument, and was partially excavated in
1933-34 by the Museum of Northern Arizona, and the National Park Service
in 1941-42 and 1952-53.

    [Illustration: _Wupatki Ruin, after excavation and some restoration
    in the 1930’s._]

This dwelling was occupied from about A.D. 1120 to A.D. 1210 by the
Sinagua (see-NAH-wah) Indians, and this region represents the
northernmost limits of occupation by this prehistoric tribe. The Little
Colorado River, seven miles east (11km), roughly marks the boundary
between this group and another prehistoric tribe to the north, the
Anasazi (ah-nah-sah-zee). Other Sinagua lived to the south in the Verde
Valley.

Above is a picture of Wupatki Ruin as it appeared after excavation and
partial restoration under the CWA program in the 1930’s. Since then the
National Park Service has developed a policy to preserve rather than
restore archeological structures. For this reason, the restored portions
were removed. We believe the ruin as it appears today leaves one with a
greater feeling of admiration for the prehistoric builders than it would
with any added restoration.


2. Ephedra—“jointfir,” or “Mormon tea”   (_Ephedra viridis_). A valuable
browse plant for grazing animals in winter, when better forage is
lacking. A palatable tonic beverage can be made from the dried stems and
flowers of the plant, and it was used by Indians and early white
settlers in the treatment of certain diseases. Ephedrine is obtained
from a Chinese species.


3. Moenkopi sandstone.   Notice how this rock breaks down into good
building stones. The banded layers of sandstone, developed as silt in an
ancient shallow sea, split along horizontal planes, and for this reason
it was easily quarried and used by the Indians in construction of their
dwellings.

The gray material on the sandstone is a lichen (ly-ken) which produces
an acid that assists in the breakdown of rock, the first step in
producing soil.


4. Fourwing saltbush—“chamiza”   (_Atriplex canescens_). One of the most
common shrubs of the Southwest, adapted to diverse soils and climatic
conditions, it is a valuable browse plant. Indians used to depend on
saltbushes as a source of meal which was made from the parched seeds,
and like pinole (made from mesquite pods) it sometimes was mixed with
water to make a beverage.

    [Illustration: _Pole-supported wall before repair, above you at
    Stake 5._]


5. The ruin   here is four stories high at its tallest point—two stories
against the rock and two stories above. To the rear of the iron beam,
necessary to support the upper walls, you can see one of the original
timbers used in construction of this dwelling.

    [Illustration: _The “amphitheater”_]

Notice the small opening in the wall above the stone-lined trench. With
the trench below, it was used to conduct air to the interior rooms of
the structure. As the dwelling was extended toward you from the higher
portions, the added outside rooms blocked air from the older ones,
necessitating a series of vents to take fresh air to the interior rooms.

The small rooms you see were used for storage of corn and beans, or
other food products.


6. Here is a typical pueblo room   with a small storage bin in the rear.
The metate (meh-TAH-tay) and mano (mah-no) in the background were used
by the Indians to grind corn. Often two or three metates, with manos for
each, are found in one room. This does not mean the room was used for
grinding purposes only. As is often the case today among Pueblo Indians,
the three metates are all made from rocks with different degrees of
coarseness. Coarse metates were used for preliminary grinding and
fine-grained ones for final grinding.

Centered in the floor of this room is a small, rectangular, stone-lined
firepit which was used for both heating and cooking.


7. Ventilator.   The long stone-lined channel, as at Stake No. 5, was
used as a ventilator, the opening being at floor level in the cliff wall
to your right. The upright slab of stone at the end of the ventilator
trench deflected the incoming air so that the draft would not pass
directly across the firepit, which was usually situated in the center of
the room or work area.

This means of ventilation was not generally used by the Sinagua Indians,
having been adopted from the neighboring Anasazi, with whom they had
very close contact in this area.


8. “Amphitheater.”   From this vantage point is a good view of the
“amphitheater” or “dance plaza.” This circular depression resembles in
many ways the large ceremonial structures (kivas) of the neighboring
Anasazi. There is no indication that it was ever roofed, and the
ceremonial features normally found in a kiva are lacking. For this
reason there is doubt as to the exact functions of this structure, which
is unique within the Sinagua culture area.

    [Illustration: _In the foreground is a collapsed wall that fell
    intact._]


9. Unexcavated room.   This is how the ruin looked prior to excavation.
As you pass through this section of rubble notice how large sections of
the walls fell intact, with individual stones still retaining their
original relative positions. The walls were probably two stories high at
this point.

Archeologists uncovered a quantity of material by carefully excavating
such rubble as this. The more fragile material on the floor, such as
pottery, was in most cases crushed or scattered by falling rocks when
the ceilings or walls collapsed. Because the excavators saved all
fragments of pottery resting on the floor, they were able to restore
many of the broken vessels, some of which exhibit beautiful designs in
black on a white background.


10. Step into this room.   You will see bins on the upper right which
were used for storage. The doorway to the rear is not prehistoric, the
room having been remodeled and occupied by a sheepherder about 1880.


11. Ball court.   Looking down about 150 yards (137m) you will see an
oval masonry ring. This is a ball court, one of several in this area,
the northernmost ones that have been discovered. In southern Arizona and
all through Mexico and Central America ball courts are fairly common.

We know very little about the game that was played in this court.
However, in Arizona sites two rubber balls have been found which are
similar to those seen in use in the Mexican ball courts by the Spanish
conquerors when they first entered Mexico. The game played here, if like
those in Mexico, was part of religious ritual.

This ball court is unique among Arizona ball courts for it is
constructed of masonry. Others are generally made of adobe.

Take the marked trail to the ball court for a closer look if you wish.


12. In adding this room   to the pueblo the builders joined their walls
to ones already existing, as can be seen on your left. As a result of
constructing rooms in this fashion the builders were unable to interlock
building stones of the new room with those of the old one. It was
usually at these points that walls collapsed first, because they were
not adequately tied together.

    [Illustration: _Unbonded walls more often collapsed._]

    [Illustration: _One of the seven infant burials mentioned at Stake
    12._]

In this room seven infant burials were found in slab-lined pits (only
one pit can be seen today). As with most people, the Indians held a
close relationship to their children, probably believing, like the Hopi
today, that the spirit of the dead child would be reborn in the next
baby. Consequently the deceased were often buried in the mother’s house.

    [Illustration: _Collapsed roof._]

  The roof as built before collapse
    Mud
    Bark
    Split beams
    Main beams


13. Work area.   The area in front of you was an outdoor workshop, or
patio, where the people could grind corn, make pottery, mend clothes,
gamble, or gossip. It was surrounded by a low “windbreak” wall and
perhaps in the summer was partially covered by a brush “shade.”


14. Room construction.   Upon entering this room one can see how the
original builders took advantage of two natural rock walls. This
eliminated construction of two sides of the room. The lower portion was
filled 5 feet (1.5m) deep with trash before the first floor was laid.

Original timbers are still in place above the opening in the rear wall.
Holes for beams that supported the second story are visible in the side
walls. A considerable number of beams was recovered during the
excavations at Wupatki, and the study of this material has contributed
greatly to the tree-ring method of dating in the Southwestern region.

Most of these beams were of ponderosa pine, not present nearby. It is
possible the pine forest was closer to Wupatki then than now.


15. Trash deposit.   The sloping ground all along this side of the ruin
is the rubbish heap. It is from trash deposits such as these that
archeologists are able to obtain a great deal of information about
material developments and changes that occurred in the history of the
people who lived in these villages.

Many interesting specimens have been recovered from trash deposits and
rooms of Wupatki, such as fragments of cloth woven in different patterns
or colored with a blue dye, brightly painted baskets, ornaments of red
siltstone and shell, small copper bells, parrot burials, and several
macaw burials, to mention a few. Many of these items were traded in to
this region from the south, some having come from Mexico, such as the
macaws and copper bell.

    [Illustration: _Room with firepit with a deflector between it and
    ventilator in wall._]


16. Look up to the room above you.   The two beams at the rear are
original roof beams that have been in the ruin almost 800 years. Above
the beams once lay the cross pieces forming the next layer, on top of
which was placed the mud or clay to complete the roof.

The bins below the beams were used for storage of farm products and
other foods gathered from wild plants.

The T-shaped doorway through which you entered is quite common in
Southwestern ruins. One probable reason for this shape was that in the
winter a blanket, a skin, or a mat could be hung over the larger
opening, leaving the lower, smaller one free to admit fresh air.


17. These three small rooms   have been excavated. They were originally
covered by a dirt roof at about the height of a man. The entrance to
these rooms, as well as all other ground floor rooms in the pueblo, was
through a hatchway in the roof, which also served as an escape for the
smoke from the firepit.

In the end room is another example of a ventilator opening going through
the wall, and a vertical slab (deflector) placed to keep the draft of
fresh air from blowing firepit sparks around the room.


This is the last stop on the trail. On your way back, please return this
booklet, or, you may purchase it for 15 cents.


                         EVERY LITTER BIT HURTS



                          GENERAL INFORMATION


Sunset Crater, 18 miles (29km) south of here, is the youngest of 400
volcanoes located in the Flagstaff region. It is one of the few
prehistoric volcanoes in the world that we can accurately date, (another
being Mt. Mazama, where now is Crater Lake, Oregon), and one of the few
that had such a profound effect upon people living in the area. When it
erupted it covered almost 800 square miles, (2080km²) including the
Wupatki area, with fine, black volcanic ash. This eruption took place
_before_ the masonry pueblos in this region were built.

When the eruption was over, a few individuals probably returned to this
area and found, much to their surprise and pleasure, that they could
grow crops in locations where they hadn’t been able to farm before. The
layer of volcanic ash acted as a moisture-retaining mulch; the people
could plant their seeds in the underlying soil and the cinder cover
would hold enough moisture to insure them a good harvest.

When this word spread around, it created a great land rush, the only one
we know of in the Southwest. Large numbers of Indians from all over this
part of the Southwest swarmed into the region of the cinder fall to take
advantage of new farming land. The Hohokam came from the south, the
Mogollon from the southeast and the Anasazi from the north.

The main concentration took place between A.D. 1100 and 1200, and during
that time the area between the San Francisco Mountains and the Little
Colorado River was inhabited by perhaps 8,000 Indians.

    [Illustration: _Citadel Ruin_]

Abandonment of the area is almost as interesting as the occupation.
Tree-ring evidence indicates that from about A.D. 1215 to 1300 there was
a long drought of varying intensity which culminated in the great
drought of 1276-1299. Winds accompanying the drought turned the area
into a dust bowl, moving away the moisture-retaining cover of cinders on
which the people had depended for their farming. Depopulation set in as
farming acreage decreased.

The Anasazi element apparently moved north or east into the Tsegi Canyon
or Hopi country, while the Sinagua moved south into the Verde Valley and
east to the Chavez Pass region near Winslow. By the mid 1200’s Wupatki
probably was completely abandoned.

When the Spanish came through this general region between 1583 and 1605,
they encountered small bands of Indians in the San Francisco Mountains
near Flagstaff. These probably were hunting and gathering parties of
either Havasupais from the Grand Canyon or Yavapais from the Verde
Valley. No Indians were reported between the Hopi villages and the San
Francisco Mountains. The Navajo, who are seen in the monument today, did
not move into the general Wupatki region until about 1870.

Other accessible ruins in the monument are Wukoki, a three-story pueblo
built on a large outcrop of sandstone, Lomaki, and Citadel Ruin.

    [Illustration: _Wukoki Ruin_]

    [Illustration: _Lomaki Ruin_]



                     ADDITIONAL POINTS OF INTEREST


This region is one of the most interesting archeological and scenic
localities in the United States. Sunset Crater National Monument is 18
miles (29km) south of Wupatki National Monument, and was the source of
the black volcanic ash which had such profound effect on the prehistoric
farmers. Twenty-one miles (34km) farther south is Walnut Canyon National
Monument, a beautiful canyon and rim setting for hundreds of ruined
homes of prehistoric Indians who also were influenced by Sunset Crater’s
ash. Even farther south, in the Verde Valley, noted as Great Drought
refugee areas, are Tuzigoot and Montezuma Castle National Monuments (the
latter including Montezuma Well.)



                       CONSERVATION—YOU CAN HELP


If you are interested in the work of the National Park Service and in
the cause of conservation in general, you can give active expression of
this interest, and lend support by alining yourself with one of the
numerous conservation organizations which act as spokesmen for those who
wish our scenic heritage to be kept unimpaired for the enjoyment of
future generations.

Names and addresses of conservation organizations may be obtained from
the ranger.


           This booklet is published in cooperation with the
                         National Park Service
                                 by the
               SOUTHWEST PARKS AND MONUMENTS ASSOCIATION

   _A non-profit publishing and distributing organization supporting
 historical, scientific and educational activities of the National Park
                               Service._

   We recommend the following items for additional information on the
                               Southwest:

YOUR NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM IN THE SOUTHWEST, IN WORDS AND COLOR. Jackson.
500 word articles on each National Park Service area in the huge
Southwest region, with full-color photograph for each of 66 areas
listed. Highly authoritative treatment with every text checked for
accuracy by National Park Service. Also contains “How to Get There”
appendix. 76 pages, 69 full-color illustrations, color cover, paper.

ARCHEOLOGY ON THE SHONTO PLATEAU, NORTHEAST ARIZONA, Keith Anderson.
1969. Scholarly report on archeological salvage work in 1963-4 along the
new road right-of-way between U.S. Highway 64 and Navajo National
Monument headquarters. Includes appendix report on Bird Remains from
Vicinity of Navajo National Monument, by Lyndon L. Hargrave, XII plus 68
pp., 2 maps, 14 tables, 10 line drawings, 21 half-tones.

100 DESERT WILDFLOWERS IN NATURAL COLOR. Dodge. Descriptions and
full-color portraits of 100 of the most interesting desert wildflowers.
Photographic hints. 64 pp., full-color cover, paper.

100 ROADSIDE WILDFLOWERS OF SOUTHWEST UPLANDS IN NATURAL COLOR. Dodge.
Companion book to author’s 100 Desert Wildflowers in Natural Color, but
for higher elevation flowers. 64 pages and full-color cover, paper.

FLOWERS OF THE SOUTHWEST DESERTS. Dodge and Janish. More than 140 of the
most interesting and common desert plants beautifully drawn in 100
plates, with descriptive text. 112 pp., color cover, paper.

FLOWERS OF THE SOUTHWEST MESAS. Patraw and Janish. Companion volume to
the Desert flowers booklet, but covering the plants of the plateau
country of the Southwest. 112 pp., color cover, paper.

FLOWERS OF THE SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS. Amberger and Janish. Descriptions
and illustrations of plants and trees of the southern Rocky Mountains
and other Southwestern ranges above 7,000 feet elevation. 112 pp., plus
4-color centerfold, color cover, paper.

MAMMALS OF THE SOUTHWEST DESERTS. Olin and Cannon. Handsome
illustrations, full descriptions, and life habits of the 42 most
interesting and common mammals of the lower desert country of the
Southwest below the 4,500-foot elevation. 112 pp., 60 illustrations,
4-color centerfold of animal photos, color cover, paper.

MAMMALS OF SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS AND MESAS. Olin and Bierly. Companion
volume to Mammals of Southwest Deserts. Fully illustrated in exquisitely
done line and scratchboard drawings, and written in Olin’s masterfully
lucid style. Gives description, range, and life habits of the better
known Southwestern mammals of the uplands. Color cover, paper or cloth.

POISONOUS DWELLERS OF THE DESERT. Dodge. Invaluable handbook for any
person living in the desert. Tells the facts about dangerous insects,
snakes, etc., giving treatment for bites and stings and dispels myths
about harmless creatures mistakenly believed poisonous. 48 pp.

    [Illustration: SPMA trademark; NPS shield]

                           Write For Catalog

               SOUTHWEST PARKS AND MONUMENTS ASSOCIATION

                     Box 1562—Globe, Arizona 85501



                          Transcriber’s Notes


—Silently corrected a few typos.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
  is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
  _underscores_.





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