Petrified Forest National Park's latest discovery of archaeologists suggests that another ancient basket-maker village had lived in the said area of Arizona.
According to ABC News, archaeologists have uncovered another ancient village in Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park that is believed to be over 1,300 years old.
Artifacts such as ancient pottery retrieved in the said area were found to have been created between 200 A.D. and 700 A.D., said Bill Reitze, one of the park's archaeologists.
The remarkable discovery of the ancient basket-maker village was made just this summer following the discovery of ancient slab-lined pit-houses last year.
Archaeologists said the ancient villages may have been formed during the cultural era known as the basket-maker period, noted Newser.com.
The cultural era was referred to as the basket-maker period because during this time people made a large number of intricate baskets.
The dwelling structures found in the second Petrified Forest National Discovery were said to have been dug into the ground in a manner that is only distinct in the Southern Colorado Plateau, noted Reitze.
The two discovery sites of the ancient villages are less than a kilometer apart, and the discoveries were made as part of the expansion project for the park's size.
It can be noted that the Congress passed the Petrified Forest National Park Expansion Act of 2004, and both these discoveries were realized all thanks to the said act.
"There are not a lot of national parks that have the opportunity to get bigger like this to protect sites and produce future research," Reitze said.
"A lot of archaeology happens in response to development. What makes this unique is new sites are discovered, research [is] being done and all these sites are being protected, all at once," he added.
The artifacts found in the ancient village sites were primarily stone tools. Other items retrieved in the discovery sites were spear points, scrapers and knives made of out of petrified wood, shells and small early ceramics.
"It's really interesting because it really allows us to see on a larger scale things we've noticed in other areas in the park," Reitze quipped.
As of late, more than 600 archaeological sites have been discovered within the boundaries of the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.
Most of the evidence retrieved suggests that the earliest inhabitants of the area arrived at least 8,000 years ago, reported Daily Mail.
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