Walhalla 

Glades 

The Grand Canyon of 

the Colorado River is 

the major topographic 

feature of the Colorado 

Plateau. Elevation 

ranges from 8,800 

feet/2,860 meters above 

sea level on the North 

Rim to 2,000 feet/610 meters above sea level along 

the Colorado River. Within this range of elevation, 

wide variation is found in both the plant and animal 

life. Aspen, fir, spruce, and ponderosa pine trees 

found at higher elevations are replaced by desert 

cactus and shrubs in the inner canyon. Animal life 

changes as well, from mule deer, coyote, and 

mountain lion on the rims to bighorn sheep, lizards, 

and other desert animals within the canyon. 

Split-twig figurines made of willow and cottonwood 

are the earliest definitive evidence of human 

occupation of the canyon. These artifacts have been 

found in caves in the Redwall Formation below the 

rim where they were left 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. 

The people who made them are thought to have 

followed a hunting and gathering lifestyle known as 

Archaic, and most likely they made the figurines for 

purposes of imitative hunting magic. Arrowheads 

made by the Archaic people have been found in the 

inner canyon, as well as on the canyon rims. These 

early people adjusted their hunting and gathering 

lifestyle to the environment based on seasonal 

availability of plants and animals. They would have 

lived on the rim in the summer and in the canyon 

during the cold months. 

Photo Above: Split-twig figurines have been found throughout 

Grand Canyon and are believed to be relics of ritual practices. 

NPS photo 

Recent research has provided a hint that people used 

the canyon earlier than 4,000 years ago. A portion of 

a paleo-Indian projectile point has been found, 

opening the possibility that people were in the 

canyon as early as 10,000 years ago. 

Regardless of exactly how long ago people lived in 

the canyon, occupation continued from early 

Archaic times through the period of time known as 

Basketmaker. During this time, nearly 2,000 years 

ago, the lifestyle of the people became more settled. 

They built pithouse dwellings and, as the name 

suggests, made baskets. 

Permanent masonry dwellings and pottery appeared 

about 1,200 years ago, during the Pueblo period. At 

Grand Canyon two separate cultural groups from 

this period have been identified. Both ancestral 

Pueblo people and the Cohonina left pottery, 

chipped stone, and the remains of their houses as 

reminders of their presence. These people lived at 

Grand Canyon for at least 500 years, after which 

they migrated from the area. The Pueblo period was 

characterized by farming, hunting, and gathering. 

People lived in houses constructed of stone and 

mud, similar to modern-day pueblos. 

As you tour Walhalla Glades you will stop at six 

rooms that were common to most structures of the 

Pueblo period. The map of the ruins will serve as a 

reference as you are guided through this ancient 

dwelling. 

Photo Right: Large ollas such as the pot above were fitted with 

fiber lattice for carrying as much as twenty gallons of water. 

Photo by Tony Marinella, courtesy of the Museum of Northern 

Arizona 

During the Pueblo period, pottery was 

used for carrying and storing water and 

as vermin-proof vessels for storage of 

food and seeds. Because styles varied 

regionally and through time, 

archeologists use the remains of this 

pottery for dating habitation sites. 

Published by Grand Canyon National Park in cooperation with Grand 

Canyon Association. Jan Balsom, NPS Writer; Tom Pittenger, NPS Editor; 

Faith Marcovecchio, GCA Project Editor; Ron Short, GCA Art Director. 

© Copyright 2001 Grand Canyon Association, Post Office Box 399, Grand

Canyon, AZ 86023. Printed on recycled paper. 

Further reading: Archaeology of the Grand Canyon: The Walhalla 

Plateau by Schwartz, Douglas W., Jane Kepp, and Richard C. 

Chapman; Grand Canyon Archaeological Series, vol. 3, 1981, 

School of American Research Press, Santa Fe. 

National Park Service 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

Grand Canyon National Park 

Arizona 
Walhalla Glades 

Grand Canyon National Park 

Walhalla Glades Pueblo 

Nine hundred years ago, people were living at 

Walhalla Glades. The site was a summer home to 

families for over 100 years. Walhalla Plateau is a 

“peninsula” surrounded on three sides by the 

Grand Canyon. The elevation in this area is a bit 

lower than most of the North Rim of Grand Canyon, 

and updrafts of warm air from the inner canyon 

allow the winter snows to melt earlier from Walhalla 

Plateau than from other rim areas. This made 

Walhalla a favorable place for ancestral people to 

farm. 

More than 100 farm sites have been found on 

Walhalla Plateau, all occupied between A.D. 1050 

and A.D. 1150. These sites usually consist of small, 

one-room structures known as field houses and 

agricultural terraces or garden plots where corn, 

beans, and squash were grown. 

It is hard to say how many people lived here at one 

time, but there may have been not more than 

twenty. It is likely that the large rooms were living 

quarters, the small rooms used for storage. 

Additional food storage was found on the small 

“island” visible from the overlook. Sky Island, as it 

is known, contains the remains of fifteen rooms, 

eleven of which were used for storage. The 

remaining four were used for food processing. 

A good example of one kind of storage room, a 

granary, can be seen on the Cliff Spring Trail (see 

map on reverse). 

During winter the people moved back into the 

canyon, probably to Unkar Delta along the Colorado 

River, where they had been living for at least 200 

years. On Unkar evidence suggests that population 

size increased over the years to a point where 

farming the delta alone could not produce enough 

food for all the families. Use of Walhalla Glades for 

farming could have been a direct result of the 

shortage of food on Unkar Delta. 

Archeologists can understand much about the 

people who lived here by examining the size of the 

rooms, their relation to other rooms and other sites, 

and the kinds of artifacts found. Detailed study 

reveals the time during which people lived at a 

particular site, what they ate, where materials came 

from, and how they provided for themselves. The 

key to unraveling the questions of the past lies in 

the artifacts found on the site. Without artifacts, 

only part of the story can be told. If you find a site, 

the most important thing to remember is not to 

move artifacts or take anything away. The position 

of the artifacts and the artifacts themselves allow the 

archeologist to interpret the site. Not only will 

disturbing the site destroy valuable information, it is 

illegal. Federal penalties can be imposed upon 

anyone who disturbs an archeological site. If you 

find a site while at Grand Canyon, mark its location 

on a map, take pictures if you have a camera, and 

contact the park archeologist or a park ranger. By 

doing this, you will help preserve the valuable 

pieces of our past. 

Walking Tour of Walhalla Glades 

Stop 1 

Room A: Rooms A and B are the oldest parts of 

the structure, though debris-filled pits beneath them 

suggest that people lived at this site even earlier. 

The rooms were made of shaped limestone slabs 

built up from ground level. At the time of 

excavation, rock rubble filled the rooms, suggesting 

that the walls of the rooms were higher and built 

completely of rock. Remains of adobe and beams in 

the rubble indicate that the rooms had roofs through 

which people entered by ladder. 

Stop 2 

Room B: Near the north wall of this room is a 

small, slab-lined fire pit. A total of eight hearths like 

this one, used for cooking and heating rooms, were 

found at this site. 

Stop 3 

Rooms C & D: A short time after rooms A and B 

were built, these two rooms were added to the 

structure. The walls were built of large unshaped 

limestone blocks set on edge. Entry into room D 

was probably through the roof, and the two rooms 

were connected by an entryway that can still be 

seen. The amount of rubble found during excavation 

suggests that these walls were masonry up to the 

roof. In rooms C and D postholes, perhaps for roof 

supports, were found during excavation. Burned and 

unburned adobe and charred beams give further 

evidence of the type of roof used. 

Stop 4 

Room D: The on-edge placement and size of this 

large limestone slab are unusual. Archeologists do 

not know if it had a special function. Notice the 

lichen growing on the face of the rock. The portion 

of the rock that has no lichen was below ground 

before excavation of the site. If you had visited the 

site before excavation, your feet would be as high as 

the lichen line of the rock. 

Stop 5 

Rooms E & F: These two small rooms, which 

contain no evidence of full masonry walls or roofs, 

were built sometime after the larger rooms. Their 

size and location suggest that they were used for 

storage. 

Stop 6 

Rooms G, H, & I: These rooms were not as well 

constructed as the larger rooms, and there is no 

evidence of full walls or roofs. It is possible that 

these rooms—the larger room I and the smaller 

rooms G and H—were built and occupied by that 

last people to live at the site after the rest of it 

burned. 

Illustration Above: An artist’s conception of many of the daily 

activities of the Pueblo people over 800 years ago. Painting by 

Roy Anderson (original painting displayed at the Tusayan 

Museum on the South Rim). 

Room D 

Room E 

Room F 

Room C 

Firepit 

Rock Step 

Room B 

Room A 

Rock Step 

Firepit Cobble Pavement 

Room G 

Room H 

Room I 

Please do not 

walk on the walls. 

0 500 ft.

5 10ft.

10

150 m. 300 m

0

2m. 4m.