Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Coconino County, Arizona — The American Mountains (Southwest)

The Power to Symbolize

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., November 8, 2010

1. The Power to Symbolize Marker

Inscription.
As a living ancestral homeland to the Hopi, Zuni, Yavapai, Havasupai, Navajo, Western Apache, and Southern Paiute, Sunset Crater is remembered, revered, and cared for.

People return often, bringing prayers and engaging in timeless traditions. Through the land, the past comes into the present, stories are recalled and values are evoked.

Hopi people believe that their ancestors' spirits, the Katsinas, travel from the San Francisco Peaks to the Hopi villages and back each year via Palatsmo (Sunset Crater) and Bonito Park. Some deities reside in the immediate area.

The Pueblo of Zuni considers Sunset Crater part of a much larger sacred landscape which continues to be important for plant and mineral collection. Pilgrimages have taken place in historic times.

The Navajo people believe the cinder cones surrounding Dook'o'oostiid (San Francisco Peaks), including Dzíl k'ídzítsooí (Sunset Crater), are the guardians or protectors of Dook'o'oostiid. Within these sacred mountains reside Navajo deities honored every day by offerings.

Erected by National Park Service.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic

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lists: Environment • Indigenous Peoples and Communities.

Location. 35° 21.777′ N, 111° 31.004′ W. Marker is in Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Arizona, in Coconino County. It can be reached from Lava Flow Trail. Marker is along the Lava Flow Trail. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Flagstaff AZ 86004, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Flagstaff & High Country

and in Hopi.

It is also in the American Southwest,

in the Mountain West,

in Colorado Plateau,

and at the Four Corners.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain

and also Mexico’s Alta California.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 11 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: As Powerful as a Volcano (within shouting distance of this marker); Life and Landscape Transformed (within shouting distance of this marker); Changes to Come (within shouting distance of this marker); The Birth of a Mountain (about

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., November 8, 2010

2. The Power to Symbolize Marker

Sunset Crater Volcano in background.

300 feet away, measured in a direct line); "The Peaks" (approx. 2.3 miles away); Geological Infant (approx. 2.3 miles away); Route 66 Trail (approx. 10.3 miles away); The Mother Road (approx. 10.9 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.

Also see . . .
1. Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. (Submitted on April 13, 2011, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.)
2. San Francisco Peaks Sacred Land. (Submitted on April 13, 2011, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.)

Sunset Crater cinder cone image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mike Stroud, May 28, 2002

3. Sunset Crater cinder cone

Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on April 13, 2011, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. This page has been viewed 951 times since then and 15 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on April 13, 2011, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. 3. submitted on April 14, 2011, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.