Flagstaff, Arizona: From the main ancient pueblo at Wupatki National Monument, you have a sweeping view East, all the way to the Painted Desert. From the Lomaki pueblo, you see the San Fransicso Peaks looming majestically on the horizon. But from any vantage in the 35,000-acre park, you're afforded more than a glimpse into the ancient past of the Colorado Plateau, right down to a fateful geologic event that changed the landscape and the lives of its people forever.



"Wupatki" is the Hopi word for "Big House," the name given to the aforementioned structure as well as the entire preserve, but the people who lived here were pre-modern Hopi inhabitants. They were the Anasazi and Sinagua people, two groups who lived in the area from about 800 BC to the early 13th century AD. For hundreds of years they eked out an existence farming this arid country and hunting. They initially built pit houses and rudimentary individual dwellings, but around 1100 AD began to build large communal dwellings that became known as "pueblos" and are now associated with many Southwest tribes.

"Wupatki" is the Hopi word for "Big House," the name given to the aforementioned structure as well as the entire preserve, but the people who lived here were pre-modern Hopi inhabitants. They were the Anasazi and Sinagua people, two groups who lived in the area from about 800 BC to the early 13th century AD. For hundreds of years they eked out an existence farming this arid country and hunting. They initially built pit houses and rudimentary individual dwellings, but around 1100 AD began to build large communal dwellings that became known as "pueblos" and are now associated with many Southwest tribes.