Wupatki and Wukoki

Migrations of the Kayenta-
Tusayan people, 1200s CE

Wupatki was the largest multi-room structure in the area but even at its height, it might have had no more than 100 residents. Wukoki was smaller and the Citadel smaller yet. But there may have been several thousand people living within a day's walk and these three ruins were the big towns of that time: cultural, religious, political and trading centers. One of the ruins found in this area has been tentatively identified as being a "ball court" similar to ball courts found among the Hohokam settlements in southern Arizona and among the Mesoamerican cities of Mexico and Central America. When Wupatki was excavated, they found the remains of 41 scarlet macaws. There were also many copper bells and drilled sea shells, all brought north from societies in western and southern Mexico. It is speculated that trade in turquoise is what made that possible.

The structures were built of flat red sandstone pieces mortared together in what is now called "stack architecture." Logs were brought in from the mountain forests and used for roof/floor beams. Around each central living structure was a series of pithouses and smaller pueblos. The buildings were located close to springs that flowed in those wetter days (but don't flow now - now the only water here is pumped up out of 900-foot deep wells). Also near each pueblo structure is a large catch pond, to catch rain water for irrigation.

When the Great Drought of the late 1200s set in, Wupatki, Wukoki, the Citadel and numerous other local pueblos were abandoned. Most of the people headed south to Homol'ovi and beyond as part of another wave of Kayenta-Tusayan migrants. Some of them may have been the spark that ignited the Salado culture.

Sites of the Ancients and approximate dates of occupation: