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German tourists learning from a local
tour guide all about the ancient settlement in the red rocks near Sedona.
Palatki ruin is one of the largest Sinagua Indian villages
in the Sedona red rock area, situated back against a
wall at the end of a canyon. Many pictographs
and some petroglyphs are found on the canyon walls as well.
The village was inhabited about 800 years ago, as the rock art indicates,
and also used from 3000 to 5000 years before by what is considered to be
the Sinagua Indians. Palatki is a Hopi word which means "red
house". It was given the dwelling in 1895 by archaeologist Jesse
Walter Fewkes. The area between the
Palatki ruin and the red cliffs around it are part of Red Canyon Ranch,
which was settled in 1924 by Charles Willard. Willard planted fruit
trees and raised melons and vegetables which he sold in nearby Cottonwood
and Jerome. The U.S. Forest Service acquired the land in the early
1970's.
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