The “Citadel,” a ruin from the late 1100s, was one of the larger pueblos in Wupatki National Monument and could have been home to many families. Research has not been completed, and questions remain about what may still be found there, including possible extra storage spaces and evidence related to ideas about its defense. The exact reasons for its abandonment are hard to prove, but the climate was variable, with both good and bad times, and extended droughts affected many abandonments in the Southwest, probably including this one. By 1250 the area was abandoned and quiet, and the families moved on in patterns that are still not understood, though descendants of the people who built these houses are almost certainly among the Pueblo Indians living in the Southwest.