Walnut Canyon National Monument: An Archeological Survey: Archeological Investigations in the Walnut Canyon Drainage, North Central Arizona

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.