The Tusayan Ruins (aka Tusayan Pueblo) is an 800-year-old

Pueblo Indian The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zu ...

site located within Grand Canyon National Park,Tusayan Ruin visitor brochure
National Park Service and is considered by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

(NPS) to be one of the major archeological sites in Arizona. The site consists of a small, u-shaped pueblo featuring a living area, storage rooms, and a

kiva A kiva is a space used by Puebloans for rites and political meetings, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, "kiva" means a large room that is circular and underground ...

. Tree ring studies indicate that the site was occupied for about twenty years, beginning around 1185. It is found on the Desert View Drive portion of Arizona State Route 64, 3 miles west of the

Desert View Watchtower Desert View Watchtower, also known as the Indian Watchtower at Desert View, is a -high stone building located on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon within Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, United States. The tower is located at Desert View, ...

. The site was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1974. The site was excavated in 1930 by members of the Gila Pueblo of

Globe, Arizona Globe ( apw, Bésh Baa Gowąh "Place of Metal") is a city in Gila County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,249. The city is the county seat of Gila County. Globe was founded c. 1875 as a mining ca ...

. Preservation work took place in 1948 and 1965. The site represents the survival of an isolated Pueblo II culture into the Pueblo III era. The Tusayan Ruin and Museum is a NPS interpreted location, which includes a trail from the museum thru part of the ruin. Tours may be ranger lead or self-guided.A visit to Tusayan Ruin and Museum
(multimedia), National Park Service The Tusayan Museum was built in 1928 to a design by National Park Service architect Herbert Maier and sponsored by

Laura Spelman Rockefeller Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman Rockefeller (September 9, 1839 – March 12, 1915) was an American abolitionist, philanthropist, school teacher, and prominent member of the Rockefeller family. Her husband was Standard Oil co-founder John D. Roc ...

as a trailside museum. It was expanded in 1934, and represents an interpretation of a Hopi structure.

See also

Notes

Further reading