Keyhole Sink is a

canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...

in the shape of a

keyhole A lock is a mechanical or electronic fastening device that is released by a physical object (such as a key, keycard, fingerprint, RFID card, security token or coin), by supplying secret information (such as a number or letter permutation or pas ...

near Williams,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. The canyon is best known for its

petroglyphs A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

, which were created about 1,000 years ago by the ancient

Cohonina The Cohonina peoples inhabited the north-western area of Arizona, to the west of the Grand Canyon in the United States. First identified in 1937 by Lyndon Hargrave, surveying pottery for the Museum of Northern Arizona, they are named for the Hopi ...

people, and the seasonal

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

s that flow into the canyon.

Archaeology

Keyhole Sink, formerly called Box Canyon, is a few miles east of Williams off

Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

Kaibab National Forest Kaibab National Forest (, ) borders both the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon, in north-central Arizona. Its 1.6 million acres (650,000 ha) is divided into three sections: the ''North Kaibab Ranger District'' (offices in Fredonia), the ...

, and can be accessed on foot by a short, unpaved pathway known as Keyhole Sink Trail. Archaeological research suggests that not many people actually lived in Keyhole Sink, and that it was mainly used as a sort of sacred rest stop for hunters and as a place for clan initiations. Surrounding the site for a radius of fifteen miles are remnants of

pit house A pit-house (or pit house, pithouse) is a house built in the ground and used for shelter. Besides providing shelter from the most extreme of weather conditions, this type of earth shelter may also be used to store food (just like a pantry, a la ...

foundations. The petroglyphs, which were carved into volcanic

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

, date from between 700 and 1100 CE. Design elements include snakes, lizards, deer, and amorphous images. The petroglyphs are considered to be heavily weathered, and in August 2010 vandals caused extensive damage by painting huge letters on them with "silvery white paint." The petroglyphs have since been restored, but the damage is still evident.

Gallery

File:Keyhole Sink Petroglyphs.jpg, The Keyhole Sink Petroglyphs, as they appeared before being vandalized File:Keyhole Sink Restoration (2).jpg, The petroglyphs during restoration File:Keyhole Sink Restoration.jpg, The petroglyphs after restoration

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keyhole Sink Canyons and gorges of Arizona Archaeological sites in Arizona Petroglyphs in Arizona Landforms of Coconino County, Arizona History of Coconino County, Arizona

Archaeology

Gallery

See also

References