Betatakin, meaning “Hillside House,” is the most accessible ruin in the monument. It is a well-preserved “apartment house,” 700 years old. As determined by the tree-ring dating method, this ruin was occupied between the years A. D. 1242 and approximately A. D. 1300.
Betatakin once had almost 150 rooms, of which more than 50 were residential, 6 ceremonial (kivas), 13 open courts or patios, about 30 storage, and 2 grinding rooms. The last-mentioned are among the many rooms which are still well-preserved.
Betatakin is built on the sloping floor of a great cave, carved by stream meander and wind erosion in the side of a soft, red, sandstone cliff which forms the sheer and vertical 500-foot north wall of a picturesque and beautiful canyon. The cave roof projects far out over the village. Sand storms had piled among the central rooms an accumulation in which oaks 4 inches in diameter and varied shrubbery had taken root.
A portion of Betatakin Ruin
In the canyon fronting Betatakin are tall, slender quaking aspen; boxelder, Douglas-fir, and pinyon deck the talus slopes; and juniper and pinyon cap the bordering cliffs.
Betatakin was discovered in 1909 by Byron Cummings and the late John Wetherill, and was excavated and stabilized in 1917 by Neil M. Judd, of the Smithsonian Institution.
The pottery found in Betatakin and the other Segi cliff ruins is of exceptional quality, artistically painted, and includes both black-on-white ware and varieties of polychrome or “orangeware.”
KEET SEEL
Keet Seel is the largest cliff ruin in Arizona and one of the last to be abandoned in the Segi Canyon region. It may be reached by horse or on foot from Betatakin by an 11-mile trail, which is primitive and crosses the canyon stream many times, making the trip on foot a difficult one.