Walnut Canyon - restored puebloan ruins

The Island Loop Trail leads past numerous restored puebloan ruins built under great rock overhangs in Walnut Canyon.The Ancestral Puebloans (or Sinagua people) first arrived in the San Francisco Peaks region about 600 AD. The Sinagua, meaning "The people without water," planted fields on the plateau above the canyon while utilizing the abundant natural resources from the surrounding forests and riparian habitat along the streams (NPS, 2007). They experienced the eruptions at Sunset Crater. In the period after the eruptions, the culture changed and flourished. It was after the eruption periods that the above-ground villages at Wupatki, and the cliff dwellings at Walnut Canyon were constructed (between 1125 and 1250 AD). The people departed the canyon area about 1250 AD (NPS, 2004). Some of their descendants are probably members of the Hopi (NAU, 2010).