The remote ruins of Honanki
By Silvia Somerville
In a remote red rock canyon outside Sedona, Arizona, just off a bumpy, unpaved road, one can find the remains of a large Sinaguan pueblo called Honanki. The heritage site is very well preserved. Some of the brick-and-mortar walls still stand, while others are in various stages of deterioration.
Above the ruins are numerous pictographs. Some predate the cliff dwellings by several thousand years. Although sections of the rock art have faded over time and a number of pictographs have been obscured by vandals or destroyed by pothunters, there is still plenty of rock art left to admire.
Honanki, which means “bear house,” is believed to have been one of the largest Sinaguan communities in the Verde Valley. According to archeologists, the pueblo had approximately six dozen rooms, arranged in a townhouse-cluster style. Some of the rooms have smoke markings; others seem to open to storage areas.
It is easy to imagine why this private, peaceful site appealed to three separate cultures (Sinagua, Yavapai and Apache) who lived at Honanki over a 700-year period. Unlike Palatki, which spreads out across the land, Honanki is compactly built against a protective butte and hidden behind large shade trees.
There are no docents at Honanki, and visitors can enjoy the ruins at their own pace. The looped path around the pueblo is three-quarters of a mile long, but the first leg up to the cliff dwellings requires a steady footing as the ground is steep and rocky. The climb is well worth the effort, though, because the site evokes life as it was lived many centuries ago. “You can almost close your eyes and imagine what it was like to live here,” said a recent visitor.
Honanki was abandoned around 1300 A.D.—50 years after the Sinaguans left Palatki, which is located only a few miles down the road. Visitors can easily see both sites on the same day.
Pink Jeep Tours Company is the official Honanki Heritage Site steward, and a company representative in a kiosk just across from the parking lot greets visitors, introduces the site and answers questions. Honanki is open year-round, except for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
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