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Wupatki National Monument Arizona
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When you look at the ruins, it is difficult to believe that less than 800 years ago, Wupatki Pueblo was the largest pueblo in the area. For a while, it flourished as a meeting place of different cultures. There was even a large area for meetings as well as games and sports. Yet, as this was one of the warmest and driest places on the Colorado Plateau, offering little obvious food, water, or comfort; how and why did people live here?

The builders of Wupatki and nearby pueblos have moved on, but their legacy remains.
Wukoki Ruins stand under clear blue sky, Wupatki National Monument, Arizona Photographic Print
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The trail is paved and accessible to the overlook above. Individuals in wheelchairs cannot go far beyond this point. It would also be difficult footing for anyone who has to use a cane or walker.
A self-guided trail begins behind the visitor center. The trail is about a half mile in length and very easy to walk. The trail is paved to the overlook. However, beyond that, only parts of it are suitable for individuals with a physical handicap that prevents them from doing much walking, and is not wheelchair accessible.

People gathered here during the 1100s. During these visits, they gradually built this 100-room pueblo with a community room and ball court. By 1182, perhaps 85 to 100 people lived at Wupatki Pueblo and it was the largest building for at least fifty miles. Although there were only about a hundred people who actually used the pueblo as a dwelling, just within a day's walk there was a population of several thousand that surrounded Wupatki.

Though it is no longer physically occupied, Hopi believe the people who lived and died here remain as spiritual guardians. Therefore, although to us the place seems to be abandoned and deserted, for the many tribes of the area, it is still alive with the spirits of their ancestors.

Stories of Wupatki are passed on among Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, and perhaps other tribes. Members of the Hopi Bear, Sand, Lizard, Rattlesnake, Water, Snow, and Katsina Clans return periodically to enrich their personal understanding of their clan history. Now that it is a national monument, Wupatki is remembered and cared for, not abandoned.

While visiting the pueblos, stay off walls, do not remove or disturb any features, and stay on established trails. These sites are vital to our studies of the past and are protected by Federal law. Additionally, you should be mindful that it is a sacred place to the surrounding tribes and should be treated just as we would treat our place of worship.

Wupatki National Monument was established by President Calvin Coolidge on December 9, 1924, to preserve Citadel and Wupatki pueblos. Monument boundaries have been adjusted several times since then, and now include additional pueblos and other archeological resources on a total of 35,422 acres. Wupatki represents a cultural crossroads, home to numerous groups of people over thousands of years. Understanding of earlier people comes from multiple perspectives, including the traditional history of the people themselves and interpretations by archeologists of structures and artifacts that remain. From hunter-gatherers to farmers, herders, ranchers, and caretakers, many people have called Wupatki home. You can explore both through the displays in the visitor center. Children are invited to work with the naturalists on site to get their Junior Ranger badge.

For its time and place, Wupatki was no other pueblo in the area. Less than 800 years ago, it was the tallest, largest, and perhaps the richest and most influential pueblo around. It was built in one of the lowest, warmest, and driest places on the Colorado Plateau. Human history here spans at least 10,000 years. But only for a time, in the 1100s, was the landscape this densely populated. The eruption of nearby Sunset Crater Volcano a century earlier probably played a part. Families that lost their homes to ash and lava had to move. They discovered that the cinders blanketing lands to the north could hold moisture needed for crops. As the new agricultural community spread, small scattered homes were replaced by a few large pueblos, each surrounded by many smaller pueblos and pithouses. Wupatki, Wukoki, Lomaki, and other masonry pueblos emerged from bedrock. Trade networks expanded, bringing exotic items like turquoise, shell jewelry, copper bells, and parrots. Wupatki flourished as a meeting place of different cultures. Then, by about 1250, the people moved on.

Additional information can be found at www.nps.gov. Click here for additional pictures of Wupatki.

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