Elden Pueblo ( Hopi: Pasiwvi) was a prehistoric Native American village located at the foot of

Mount Elden Mount Elden or Elden Mountain (Hopi: Hovi'itstuyqa) is located in central Coconino County northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona. It takes its name from one of the region's earliest Anglo settlers, John Elden, who, along with his family, established ...

near Flagstaff, Arizona. The pueblo is thought to have been part of a major trading system.Elden Pueblo Archaeological Site
at

Coconino National Forest The Coconino National Forest is a 1.856-million acre (751,000 ha) United States National Forest located in northern Arizona in the vicinity of Flagstaff. Originally established in 1898 as the "San Francisco Mountains National Forest Reserve", th ...

Various trade items such as macaw skeletons from Mexico as well as

shell jewelry Shell jewelry is jewelry that is primarily made from seashells, the shells of marine mollusks. Shell jewelry is a type of shellcraft. One very common form of shell jewelry is necklaces that are composed of large numbers of beads, where each in ...

from the coast of California have been found throughout the site. The area is now protected and is used for research and educational purposes.

History

The area was settled by the

Sinagua The Sinagua were a pre-Columbian culture that occupied a large area in central Arizona from the Little Colorado River, near Flagstaff, to the Verde River, near Sedona, including the Verde Valley, area around San Francisco Mountain, and signifi ...

peoples from approximately 1070 to 1275. It is believed that the site was home to 200–300 people within 60–70 rooms. Aside from the structures constructed of compacted stones, a burial mound was discovered near the site. Two individual burials were found under the site. The site was discovered by Harold Colton, who originally named it Sheep Hill Pueblo. When Jesse Walter Fewkes excavated it in 1926 and shipped the recovered skeletons and pots to the Smithsonian, it created a controversy with Arizona's archeologists including Colton and

Byron Cummings Byron Cummings (September 20, 1860 – May 21, 1954) is known as the dean of Southwestern archaeology. Cummings served as the University of Arizona’s 9th president (1927–28), Arizona State Museum’s first director (1915–38), founding head ...

of the University of Arizona. Colton and Fewkes sparred in the journal ''Science'' and in various outraged Arizona newspapers. The controversy was part of the impetus for the 1927 Arizona Antiquities Act and the creation of the Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art. There is some controversy about the burial mound; some say the mound is simply a dirt pile from the nearby Fewkes' excavation. Ruins from another structure were also found underneath the mound which also leads to questions about its authenticity. Archeological studies have uncovered information regarding architectural design and the social hierarchy of the Sinagua people. Social hierarchy can be deduced from the variations in burial techniques as well as the decorative features of the grave. Although it has been stated that the Winona meteorite was found at Elden Pueblo, it was in fact found at another Sinagua site miles away.A.L. Christenson "J. W. Simmons' account of the discovery of the Winona meteorite." ''Meteorite'' 10(3):14–16, 2004

References

External links

Interactive Dig, Elden Pueblo
at Archaeology (magazine) * {{Authority control Native American history of Arizona Archaeological sites in Arizona History of Coconino County, Arizona Coconino National Forest Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona National Register of Historic Places in Coconino County, Arizona Protected areas of Coconino County, Arizona Ruins in the United States Sinagua Ancient Puebloan archaeological sites in Arizona