When the the Sinagua people who had lived in this area for more than 500
years first heard and felt the rumblings of a volcano coming to life during
the winter of 1064 AD, they were probably startled and
fearful. Fortunately, this type of volcano gave them plenty of warning to
abandon their homes in the Wupatki Basin before the major eruptions occurred
over the next 2 years.
When they did return, these ancient farmers built a diverse culture in the
shadow of the volcano's cinder cone that amazes visitors 700 years later. They
abandoned the area permanently by 1250, and centuries later the Hopi and the
Navajo arrived. Today, Sunset Crater is still regarded as a holy place by the
Hopi who believe that the friendly Kana's spirit lives here and that a wind
god, Yaponcha, inhabits a fissure at the base of the cinder cone.
