Agate House Trail

Agate House is a partially reconstructed 8-room Ancestral Puebloan pueblo built entirely from chunks of petrified wood approximately 900 years ago, during the Pueblo II period. The builders selected pieces of agatized log for their hardness and flat breaking surfaces, mortaring them together with adobe clay to construct walls that still stand 4 feet high after a century of Park Service stabilization. The structure was likely occupied seasonally by small farming families who grew corn in the adjacent lowlands, and ceramic sherds of corrugated pottery have been found throughout the site. The trail to Agate House crosses open badland terrain past scattered petrified logs, offering excellent views of the Painted Desert's banded clay hills in shades of lavender, ochre, and rose. Pronghorn antelope are frequently spotted along this route — the park holds one of the densest pronghorn populations in Arizona, and the animals are often seen grazing within yards of the trail. The interpretive panels at the site explain the architectural choices made by the builders, including why they used petrified wood rather than the sandstone available elsewhere in the park.