About 800 years ago, this small village was home to the Cohonina Anasazi, part of the greater Ancestral Puebloan culture that centered around the Four Corners area. The people who lived here tended crops nearby during the summer, and in the winter moved to the inner canyon, taking advantage of its longer growing season.

The masonry complex includes living spaces, a storage area, and two kivas, or circular structures. Today’s Hopi people consider the Cohonina their ancestors, and the Cohonina may have shared the Hopi’s reverence for the San Francisco Peaks, visible through the surrounding ponderosa pines.

Rangers guide daily walks of the ruin, though you can take the self-guided loop trail if a ranger program isn’t scheduled while you are here. Displays at nearby Tusayan Museum focus on prehistoric and contemporary Indian cultures. Artifacts include split-twig figurines found in Grand Canyon. The bookstore selection includes titles on archaeology and ethnology.