| Summary: | The 1985 survey of Walnut Canyon recorded 242 sites, of which the majority were prehistoric. The first period of occupation dates to the Sunset phase, from A.D. 800 to 950, when the southeast section of the monument was most obviously occupied; there is some indication of sporadic early use in other parts of the monument. There is a hiatus from around A.D. 950 to 1066, the date of eruption of Sunset Crater. At the beginning of the 12th century there is a dramatic increase in sites, especially on the north rim. A hierarchy of sites includes villages, hamlets, and field structures. The presence of intrusive ceramics suggests an extensive extra-areal participation in a network linking other Sinagua and populations outside the Sinagua area. This developner!t does not appear to he unique; similar phenanena occurred throughout the Southwest at the same time and may have been indirectly responsible for expansion into the Walnut Canyon drainage.
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