Tusayan Museum and Ruin

Cohonina and ancestral Pueblo (Kayenta Anasazi) people lived in this area in prehistoric time, and the ancestral Puebloans built Tusayan about AD 1185. The site offers a glimpse of the way of life of people at Grand Canyon more than 800 years ago. Excavation of the Tusayan ruin was conducted in 1930 under the direction of Harold S. Gladwin and the staff of the Gila Pueblo of Globe, Arizona, who named it Tusayan following the Spanish nomenclature for the district, though the exact meaning of the word is lost. The partially excavated ruin is unique because no attempt was made at reconstruction, and portions were deliberately left unexcavated, a standard procedure today but unheard of in 1930. The site represents the westernmost extension of the Kayenta Anasazi and is one of the most heavily visited archeological sites in the National Park system.

Arizona · United States