Puerco Ruin and Petroglyphs, Arizona
N 34° 58.470 W 109° 47.606
12S E 610138 N 3870880
Ruins of a Native American pueblo and some of the best preserved petroglyphs in Arizona
Waymark Code: WM14DT
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 01/11/2007
Views: 93
Puerco Ruin is a partially excavated rectangular pueblo of 76 rooms built around a large plaza. Some of the buildings may have stood two stories high.
Here, at the largest of Petrified Forest National Park’s many archeological sites, researchers have found evidence of human occupation from about A.D. 1250 to A.D. 1380.
This area supported a small farming community of perhaps 60-75 inhabitants, possible due of its proximity to the then-flowing Puerco River. Puerco Pueblo straddled the cultural frontier between the Mogollon / Zuni people of the mountains to the north and the Anasazi / Hopi people of the mesas and canyons to the north. Artefacts found during excavations revealed that the inhabitants of Puerco Pueblo had contacts with both groups.
For details on the petroglyphs, check the Puerco Petroglyphs waymark.
Interestingly, the ruin was first excavated by John Muir, more often known as a naturalist than an archaeologist, in 1905 and 1906.