Walnut Canyon National Monument: An Archeological Survey: Archeological Investigations in the Walnut Canyon Drainage, North Central Arizona

Summary

The 1985 survey of Walnut Canyon recorded 242 sites, of which the

majority were prehistoric. The first period of occupation dates to the

Sunset phase, from A.D. 800 to 950, when the southeast section of the

monument was most obviously occupied; there is some indication of

sporadic early use in other parts of the monument. There is a hiatus

from around A.D. 950 to 1066, the date of eruption of Sunset Crater. At

the beginning of the 12th century there is a dramatic increase in sites,

especially on the north rim. A hierarchy of sites includes villages,

hamlets, and field structures.

The presence of intrusive ceramics suggests an extensive

extra-areal participation in a network linking other Sinagua and

populations outside the Sinagua area. This developner!t does not appear

to he unique; similar phenanena occurred throughout the Southwest at the

same time and may have been indirectly responsible for expansion into

the Walnut Canyon drainage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Walnut Canyon National Monument, Arizona   •
• Arizona

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 800 to 1300

Spatial Coverage

File Information