Between 1100 and 1200, this area held more people than ever before or since, as villages along routes linking large populations to the northeast and south became well situated for trade and a complex society of several thousand developed. This village stood at the heart of a thriving community as a landmark, gathering place, and ceremonial center in a dry, hot land where moisture-conserving cinders from nearby Sunset Crater Volcano slightly improved farming conditions during the 1100s, though extensive land and labor were still required. Its monumental structure may have signaled control over farmlands and helped unite a growing community that accepted immigrants. Historical accounts of Pueblo life, archeological evidence, and Hopi and Zuni oral histories indicate that people of diverse origins came together here, with influences seen in pottery from near modern-day Flagstaff and from Kayenta country, architecture in both Chacoan and Kayenta styles, and a ballcourt and shell jewelry that point to ties to the far south. Through trade, villagers acquired Mesoamerican scarlet macaws and copper bells for ceremonies and rituals, and perhaps exchanged expertly woven cotton textiles, while weaving styles and decorative techniques suggest that weavers may also have come from different places across the Southwest. Villagers shared walls, water, food, protection, and prayer, gathering to celebrate harvests, feast, compete in the ballcourt, and hold ceremonies that sought harmony, rain, and fertility. For more than 100 years, people thrived here by farming one of the warmest and driest places on the Colorado Plateau, and the village's location, height, size of 100 rooms, and public spaces suggest it was an important meeting place rather than a typical household, possibly home to people with ritual and leadership responsibilities, while most others lived in many small dwellings scattered for miles around. Descendants say prophecy and beliefs guided settlement and departure, and when clans left, doorways were sealed and items remained in rooms, perhaps in hope of returning. By the 1200s, trees and shrubs were gone, soils were depleted, and changing environmental conditions, possible conflict, shifting trade networks, and the growing appeal of other villages likely contributed to departure.