The Tusayan Ruins (aka Tusayan Pueblo) is an 800-year-old Pueblo Indian site located within

Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon National Park, located in northwestern Arizona, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often considered ...

,Tusayan Ruin visitor brochure
National Park Service and is considered by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government within the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of ...

(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 undergroun ...

. 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 State Route 64 (SR 64) is a state highway in the northern part of the US state of Arizona. It travels from its western terminus in Williams to its intersection with U.S. Route 89 (US 89) in Cameron. Route description S ...

, 3 miles west of the Desert View Watchtower. 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 artist ...

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, Gila County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,249. The city is the county seat of Gila C ...

. 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 Herbert Maier (January 2, 1893 – February 23, 1969) was an American architect and public administrator, most notable as an architect for his work at Yosemite National Park, Yosemite, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon and Yellowstone Na ...

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. Rock ...

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

See also

Notes

Further reading