Nuvakwewtaqa (Hopi for "Snow Belt", formerlay known as "Chavez Pass")

Sinaqua Culture, constructed and occupied between 1050 C.E. and 1425 C.E..; located on the Coconino National Forest in Chavez Pass, Arizona, about 15 miles southwest of the Meteor Crater, in a natural gap through a rocky escarpment separating the arid, lower altitude Little Colorado River Basin from the cooler, moister Anderson Mesa and Mogollon Rim areas. The Chavez Pass area is known to the Hopi as Nuvawewtaqa, or "Snow Belt". The Zuni refer to the area as Kumanch an A'l Akkwe'a and the Navajo call it Jettipehika. These cultures all have stories transmitted through generations about the landscape and earlier residents. The only perennial waterway in the area is the Little Colorado River about 30 miles to the northeast. The original inhabitants of Nuvawewtaqa relied upon a spring in Chavez Pass for drinking water. Master farmers used a dry-adapted variety of corn and other plants utilizing their extensive knowledge of the land and what would flourish in that environment, utilizing techniques of rain water runoff capture management.

Elevation is 2120 meters (6600 feet) above sea level.

Materials: main floor walls: basalt stone; upper walls: tabular sandstone or limestone, mortar used on tallest walls, up to three stories; wood log roof structure, with mud/clay roof.

Data for CG model:
1. Morgan, William N., ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE OF THE SOUTHWEST, University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas, 1994.
2. Survey Map by G.Brown, S.Upham, & D.Foldi, Mariah Associates, date unknown.