Between 1046 and 1071 A. D., or almost 1,000 years ago, there were rumblings in the valley at the foot of the peaks. Earth lodges abandoned by the frightened Indians decayed into ruins. Then came the eruption of what is now Sunset Crater. Huge clouds of volcanic cinder or ash buried remains of the homes and spread a black mantle over more than 800 square miles of territory between the mountains and the river.
While this was probably regarded as a great catastrophe at the time, some of the Indians soon discovered it was possible to raise corn where plants previously had shriveled and died from lack of water. The fine layer of cinder over the soil formed a mulch which absorbed moisture from the scanty rain and snow. Gradually news of this new farming land filtered out over the Southwest. The land rush was on.
The People
Here truly was a “melting pot.” Indian families came from the north, south, east, and west. In the cinder-covered area is the only place where we find the Pueblo dry farmer from eastern and northern Arizona mingling with the Hohokam irrigation farmer from the south; where there are strong influences from the Mogollon groups to the south and east along with those from a more backward and, as yet, little-known people from the west.
Each tribe came with their precious corn seed and digging sticks to cultivate the cinder soils. They met and mingled. In the earlier village ruins it is possible to distinguish these various people by characteristic styles of their utensils, tools, and weapons, but as time went on these differences became less and less apparent.
The Villages
Villages were developed throughout the cinder-covered area. One of the most important and longest inhabited of these was a ruin which is now called Wupatki—a Hopi Indian word for “Tall House.” Here was a spring, one of the few in this arid region.
Wupatki is one of the most spectacular pueblos in northern Arizona. Its sandstone walls rise from a sandstone spur at the base of a black lava mesa that overlooks the Painted Desert. From an insignificant pueblo of a few rooms, Wupatki grew until it became the largest in the region. During the 1100’s it contained more than 100 rooms, was in places at least three stories high, and had an estimated population of from 150 to 200 persons. To one side of the ruin, protected from the prevailing winds, was an open-air amphitheater which apparently was used for public ceremonies. In the valley below is a “ball court,” the only stone-masonry one that has been discovered in the Southwest. Little is known of the game itself, but it was very popular in southern Arizona and was brought up by migrants from that region. Wupatki was partially excavated and a few of the rooms restored by the Museum of Northern Arizona in cooperation with the National Park Service in 1933-34.
The Wupatki ruin