Ancient underground village discovered in Arizona’s ‘Petrified Forest’

The recent discovery of evidence for an ancient village in Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park is expected to prompt further investigation.

by John Tyburski

Copyright © Daily Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

First published at Daily Digest News on October 9, 2014

A prehistoric, petrified forest seems to have been home to ancient peoples, according to evidence discovered recently in Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park. The sandstone slabs sticking up out of the sand dunes served as early clues of something significant just below the surface.

Recently, 10 archaeologists combed the Park in a painstaking, systematic search for signs of ancient life. They came across ceramic shards and portions of stone tools, all pointing in the direction of something significant.

“You’re out in the sun, walking around. They’re long days,” said Amy Schott, a seasonal archaeologist with the park. “But it’s exciting, too, because you get finds like this.”

After assembling notes and GPS coordinates of each small find, the archaeologists saw the bigger picture. They discovered the remnants of a village estimated to be 1,300 to 1,800 years old. The discovery will not only prompt continued investigation at the park but will also likely provide new insight into the lives and experiences of Arizona’s earliest human residents.

The village consists of the remains of a cluster of “pit houses,” ancient sandstone dwellings that used vertical slabs to form the lower portions of the dwellings. Tree branches and grass are thought to have made up the upper parts of the structures. A total of 50 to 70 pit houses on the site suggest a village size of perhaps 100 to 150 people.

“There’s evidence of people having been there because they’re found in sand dunes where there are no sandstone slabs, so they must have been moved there,” said Brad Traver, park superintendent. “It’s the time when civilization in our area is starting to gather in villages — not individual hunters and gatherers anymore. It is the transition between the nomadic existence of a hunter-gatherer and starting to settle down into villages.”

Archaeologists speculate that the newly discovered village joins on found last year in being from the Basketmaker Era, a period before pottery became widely used between the Archaic and Puebloan civilizations. Traces of stone tools and ceramics were found throughout the sites, suggesting that the inhabitants used pottery for carrying water, cooking, and eating.

The new village measures 66 acres, much larger than the 14-acre village found last year.

“To the untrained eye they might actually look fairly unimpressive,” Schott said. “We find sites that have (pit houses) pretty much all over the place, but usually there’s only a few structures in one spot. These are a little more unique because they’re so much larger and there’s so many in one spot.”

It remains unclear who dwelt in the villages. The sites predate the arrival of the Navajo people to the region.

“It’s hard to tell if the cultural artifacts can be closely enough tied to the Hopi or the Zuni as we know them,” Traver said.