Tusayan Museum and Ruin
Cohonina and ancestral Pueblo (Kayenta Anasazi) people lived
in this area in prehistoric time. The ancestral Puebloans built
Tusayan about AD 1185. A visit to the museum and a short walk
through the remains of the village will furnish 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. They named it Tusayan following the
Spanish nomenclature for the district; the exact meaning of the
word Tusayan is lost to us. The museum was established to
interpret the partially-excavated ruin. The ruin is unique in that
no attempt was made at reconstruction, and portions of the ruin
were deliberately left unexcavated-standard procedure today,
but unheard of in 1930. The site represents the westernmost
extension of the kayenta Anasazi. It is one of the most heavily
visited archeological sites in the National park system.
