One hundred years ago, President Calvin Coolidge declared a new national monument in northern Arizona: Wupatki, where visitors could see close up the rock-walled structures built by Ancestral Puebloans almost a thousand years before.
Local citizens and archaeologists at the national level spearheaded the effort. Jesse Walter Fewkes, with the Bureau of American Ethnology, came by camp wagon in 1900 to explore the archaeological sites in the Little Colorado River valley. His work became known to Flagstaff residents Harold Colton, founder of the Museum of Northern Arizona, and his friend and amateur archaeologist J.C. Clarke. They were concerned about damage to the ancient pueblos, and the loss of precious objects, many of which were being shipped to museums back East.
The national monument, about 30 miles north of Flagstaff, at first included only two limited parcels — the namesake Wupatki Pueblo and the Citadel. Boundaries were eventually extended to more than 35,000 acres, embracing a stunning expanse of red mesas, golden grasslands, and black basalt.
The residents of Wupatki were farmers who took advantage of the cinder mulch deposited when nearby Sunset Crater Volcano erupted in 1085 AD. They were also traders, and Wupatki became a center for people from all around bringing in goods and ideas.
Hopi descendants return often to pay respect to their ancestors. Zunis, Navajos, and other Indigenous peoples also hold strong ties to this place.
Marking its centennial this year, Wupatki National Monument still protects culture and landscape, surrounded by profound silence and wondrous dark skies.
This Earth Note was written by Rose Houk and produced by KNAU and the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University.
