Keet Seel (Kawestima) is the second of the three major archaeological sites that are protected by the National Park Service at the Navajo National Monument. Keet Seel and Betat'akin are open to the public on a limited basis. Inscription House is closed to public access due to the fragility of the site. There are other unprotected (and legally inaccessible) sites in the area.
Most visitors to the Navajo NM restrict themselves to a view of the Betat'akin ruins from the 1-mile round-trip Sandal Trail on the canyon rim. But Keet Seel, for those who are willing to walk the distance, is a much better site - better preserved and relatively undisturbed. Access to Keet Seel is only via ranger-led tours. The trail to Keet Seel is an 17 mile round-trip hike with a 1000' elevation loss and, of course, a 1000' elevation gain.
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Trail to Keet Seel along Laguna Creek |
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Tsegi Canyon and Laguna Creek |
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Waterfall on Laguna Creek |
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Keet Seel (Kawestima) was one of the homes of the Kayenta Anasazi, ancestors of the Hopi Fire, Flute and Bighorn Sheep clans.
Keet Seel was occupied around 950 AD and abandoned about 1300 AD. There may have been several hundred people living in this 160-room cliff-dwelling during the period of occupation.
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Keet Seel ruin and entrance ladder |
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Keet Seel ruin, Navajo National Monument |
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Views of Keet Seel from the approach trail |
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Like Betat'akin, Keet Seel is also home to both pictographs and petroglyphs.
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Keet Seel pictographs |
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Keet Seel pictographs |
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Keet Seel snake petroglyph |
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There are several different styles of pottery to be found at Keet Seel. While there are few intact (or even "nearly intact") remains, there are thousands of potsherds illustrating the different styles scattered over the site.
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A few of the thousands of pottery sherds scattered at Keet Seel |
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At Keet Seel, there was a group effort to build and backfill a retaining wall across 60% of the eastern part of the alcove, which was then backfilled to provide more living space in the protected alcove.
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East Rampart Street, Keet Seel |
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West Rampart Street, Keet Seel |
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Keet Seel still shows a little of the daily routines of it's people - the construction techniques, the turkey pen, the metates in the corn grinding room, and a "built-in" storage space (perhaps for sacred objects?) The village was built with a series of "family units," each with its own living space and storage rooms. There were also corn-grinding rooms, granaries and a kiva.
Turkeys were an important part of Anasazi life, providing not only food, but feathers which were used to make warm garments and blankets for winter, and ceremonial garments for spiritual use.
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Turkey pen |
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Two metates |
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A built-in storage place |
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Roof construction was not required to be "weatherproof" - only to provide an enclosed space to retain heat. The roofs were made by using beams overlaid with layers of progressively smaller branches which were then covered with layers of mud or mortar.
Like most, if not all, Anasazi villages, there was a kiva here. Spiritual life for the Anasazi, as for the Navajo, Hopi and others today, was a huge and extremely important part of their lives.
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Original roof construction |
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A Keet Seel kiva |
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700 year-old roof beams |
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