Heits on the Road: Palatki Heritage Site

On the Friday before we left Sedona, Leigh coordinated a trip to Palatki Heritage site just outside town. Luckily Scott had rented an all wheel drive SUV, because the information center was five miles down a dirt road. But, arrive we did to find bathrooms in the parking lot and an information visitor center. The area was pretty rustic but also just plain pretty.

We were led by a volunteer who really knew his stuff. We headed up the mountain steps to see the dwellings of another extended family of Sinagua Indians. The path was steep but steps have been built of rocks.

Soon, we arrived at the dwellings and although you couldn't go into the rooms, you were close enough to touch them. Similar but different to those dwellings at Montezuma's castle, these were one and two story homes for the people who farmed on the valley floor below. The two family groups lived at Palatki (Hopi for Red House) from 1000-1400 AD. Like many of the other sites we visited, no one is totally sure why they left but by 1400, they were gone. Moving north to bigger communities.

The best part was yet to come as we hiked down the mountain and back up the other side to the walls of art. This area contains pictographs dating back 3,000 to 6,000 years ago and petroglyphs from 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. It is a history of the people who lived on the land. Hunter gathers from the time before the Sinagua, the Sinagua who built Palatki, modern Indians like the Hopi and even graffiti from the settlers who lived in the area more than a 100 years ago. Pictographs are painted symbols and petroglyphs are actually cut or chipped into the rock. The rock walls have both.