Another ancient village has been discovered inside the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. This relic date back some 1,300 years and islocated in the northeastern part of the park.

As archaeologists were surveying the Petrified Forest, they stumbled on what seemed to be the remains of an ancient village.

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Park archaeologist William Reitze excavated the first village last summer. He described the settlement as containing around 50 remains of ancient dwellings made from sandstone and in different sizes.

The second village was found when the team returned to the same location. Reitze described this second village as a site less than a mile from the first village. Both villages were built on sand dunes.

The primitive houses found in the pits have walls and floors that are built with sandstones. Sandstone, however, is not indigenous to the area.

Both villages have remnants of brown ceramic pottery. Stone points, other artifacts and structural remains provide evidence this village thrived between 200 A.D. and 700 A.D.

This is around the late Basketmaker cultural period in which ancient Pueblo people lived. This period goes back to the roots of prehistoric American southwestern culture.

During this prehistoric Basketmaker culture, natives slowly learned to cultivate crops and grow their own food sources. They also adapted to larger living spaces since their pit houses are lined with sandstone.

Reitze adds these ancient Americans gradually invested in sturdier and larger houses to contain more family members under one roof and to maintain the structure for a longer time period.

The Petrified Forest National Park has a size of 146 square miles. It's located on overlapping Apache and Navajo counties.

Reitze and his team know also plan further studies and excavations in the near future. They also plan to confirm the dating of the ancient villages via the radiocarbon method.

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