Description

A three story pueblo three miles east of Monumebt haedquarters in Wupatki National Monument in northern Arizona.

In 1891 and 1893, Archeologist Jesse Walter Fewkes visited Walpi pueblo on the present-day Hopi reservation. On one of his visits he heard the origin of the Snake Clan. According to legend, the clan migrated from Tokonave near Navajo Mountain to the great house Wukoki before moving on to Walpi. Wukoki was said to have been located 50 miles west of Walpi by the Little Colorado River, but its exact location was uncertain.

Fewkes did locate dwellings, within what is now Wupatki National Monument, that he believed to be the Wukoki of the Snake Clan legend. Initially he refered to the entire area as Wukoki. As he grew more familiar with the individual pueblos, Fewkes specifically applied the name Wukoki to the largest pueblo. Wukoki means "big house" in Hopi.

Over time, the pueblo Fewkes called Wukoki became widely known as Wupatki instead. This also became the name of the national monuments in 1924. The name Wukoki was assigned to the nearby pueblo we know by that name today.

Although it is no longer physically occupied, Hopi believe the people who lived and died here remain as spiritual guardians. Wukoki is remembered and cared for, not abandoned.
 
Wukoki is one of the best preserved prehistoric structures within Wupatki national monument, but it has not been reconstructed. The National Park Service partially reinforced the pueblo in 1941 by installing wood braces, props, and wedges. Cement and mud mortars were used to further stabilize the walls. Later a stabilization survey was conducted and the wall again remortared with mud. Test trenches were dug in two of the rooms. This is the only modern excavation of the site.