Entering Tyuonyi Pueblo Loop Trail Stop 7

the entrance to Tyuonyi

NPS

Quick Facts

Amenities

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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Scenic View/Photo Spot

You are now standing in the central plaza of the village. Can you hear the dogs barking and the laughter of children playing or chasing the domesticated turkeys? This would have been a very active and noisy place during Ancestral Pueblo times. One theory suggests that this village has a defensive structure because during the summer the young healthy adults spent much of their time farming and living in field houses (small stone structures) on the mesas. The older adults, young children, and turkeys would have been living here in the village. Imagine how much easier it would be for the adults to supervise the children and the livestock with a single entrance to this plaza, the one you entered through.