Elden Pueblo EarthCache
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Located at the base of Mt. Elden in a section of the Coconino National Forest just outside the city limits of Flagstaff off of HWY 89.
Elden Pueblo is located one mile north of the Flagstaff Mall on the west side of U.S. Highway 89 North, just south of its junction with Townsend-Winona Road. A sign for “Elden Pueblo Ruins” leads into the parking lot. A 250 yd (0.2mi.) long ADA accessible dirt path leads from the parking lot to and around the ruins.
Elden Pueblo is the site of an ancient Sinagua (Sin ah’ wa) village, inhabited from about A.D. 1070 to 1275. The site is unique for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, it makes archaeology and the study of ancient peoples accessible to the public. Since 1978, professional archaeologists have supervised members of the public in excavations, archaeological research techniques and artifact analysis through a variety of public and school programs.
Elden Pueblo is thought to have been part of a major trading system. This is evidenced by discoveries of trade items, such as macaw skeletons from as far south as Mexico, to shell jewelry from the California Coast. Important discoveries recently uncovered at Elden Pueblo suggest that the Sunset Crater volcano may have erupted over a much longer period of time than previously thought.
Located in the cool ponderosa pines of the Coconino National Forest, just outside of Flagstaff, Arizona, the Elden Pueblo Heritage Site sits on the fringe of two biological life zones. The rain shadow provided by Mount Elden creates a milder climate than the surrounding pine forest and is more typical of the pinyon-juniper zone, found at lower elevations several miles away. This creates an environment where the Sinagua could exploit the diverse resources of two life zones from a single location—a unique, and important, environmental opportunity that was significant for the development of the Elden Pueblo community. Historically, the area was used for sheep grazing, potato farming in the nearby open parks, and logging.
Elden Pueblo itself is a 70 room pueblo with a large community room, two ceremonial kivas and numerous outlying activity areas. It is the “type site” for the Elden Phase of the prehistoric Northern Sinagua culture, A.D. 1150-1250, although the full occupation of the site spans A.D. 1070-1275. It is recognized by the Hopi as an ancestral village, known as Pasiovi, “the place of coming together”.
The site was discovered in 1916 by Mary Russell Ferrell Colton and excavated in 1926 by Dr. Jesse Walter Fewkes for the Smithsonian Institution. In the 1970’s, when the area was being considered for possible land exchange, the site was thought to have been thoroughly dug-out by Fewkes. However, further testing by the Forest revealed that Elden Pueblo still has much to contribute to our understanding of the “Golden Age” of the Sinagua. Fewkes’ work was the first major excavation in the Flagstaff area, and was partly responsible for the establishment of the Museum of Northern Arizona by Mrs. Colton and her husband, Dr. Harold S. Colton, in 1928.
The mountain’s exposed, rocky slopes are a dominant feature from almost any part of the city of Flagstaff, rising steeply nearly 2,400 vertical feet to an elevation of 9,299 feet (2834 m) above sea level. Much of the vegetation on the southern and southeastern slopes of the mountain was destroyed by a catastrophic 4,600-acre (18 km²) human-caused wildfire in June 1977.
Despite its rugged appearance, steep relief and massive size, covering nearly 15 square miles (39 km²) of surface area, Mount Elden is easily accessible via an extensive, well-developed road and non-motorized trail system that is part of the Coconino National Forest.
Mount Elden is one of five large peripheral silicic volcanic features within the greater San Francisco Peaks volcanic system which include the nearby Dry Lake Hills, the Hochderffer and White Horse Hills to the northwest, and O’Leary Peak to the northeast. Because these features developed within close proximity of the San Francisco Mountain strato-volcano there is a strong likelihood that each is a geologic subsidiary of the larger mountain.
Geologically, Mount Elden is a lava dome comprised almost entirely of dacitic lava flows which emerged from several vents. These features emerged as intrusive emplacements within sedimentary blocks or as viscous extrusive flows in which the younger flows partially covered the older, lower flows. Geologic evidence suggests that the eruption of the mountain, which occurred at linear vents along regional faults, was a non-explosive event that took place during several flow sequences. Likewise, because of the high viscosity of the dacite, it is likely that the mountain formed in the short period of a few month's time. The mountain’s overlapping flows commonly take lobe-like shapes which display a variety of flow characteristics and features including concentric benches, spires, ramping shear fractures, longitudinal tension fractures, and conjugate shear fractures.
Postioned within the central part of Mount Elden, on the mountain’s eastern and northwestern flanks are two sedimentary blocks. Both of these blocks display characteristics of uplift that most likely occurred as dacitic magma intruded into the sedimentary layers at a shallow depth and uplifted the layers, causing them to dip away from the mountain. These blocks of sedimentary material are unique to the mountain, which otherwise is uniformly composed of silicic dacite
To Log this EarthCache:
• Post a picture of yourself and /or GPS in front of Elden Pueblo ruins anywhere along the trail. What is the elevation at the picture location.
• E-mail the answer to the following question: What benefits did Mt. Elden provide the early inhabitants living at its base?
Please begin your e-mail with the name of the earthcache and make sure your log includes the number of people in your group.
Please Note: It is unlawful to dig or collect artifacts you find laying on the ground at Elden Pueblo. You are welcome to touch and look at them, but put them back exactly where you found them. To protect the site, stay on the trail, and do not sit or climb on the walls of the pueblo.
The above information was copied from the following sources: (visit link) website -USDA Forest Service, Coconino National Forest, Elden Pueblo, website -Hand on the Land, Elden Pueblo Project webs
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