We visit the Homolovi settlements today.

From about the 1200's to 1300's the Hopi people built homes in two different locations in the park.  The first was flooded out and when they decided the second was no longer a good place to live they moved on.

​The warning sign near by gave an indication of one reason why they may have moved from the first site.

The Hopi indian sites at the Homolovi State Park are not in very good shape anymore.  In the past people have robbed the sites for materials to build their own homes or to find relics to steal.

When the destruction was brought to the country's attention in a National Geographic magazine article, the government stepped in to protect the sites.

Even today there are those who try to steal from the park. When we arrived at the first site there were two men there. One was walking along a ridge and kept looking down and bending to pick up something from time to time.  The second seemed to be annoyed that we were there and told us that there was not much to see.

We walked to the site and along the marked path.

​Rain from the day before had exposed many shards of pottery.  It was amazing that so many were still right there on the surface.

​On the way to site 2 we passed a ranger.  I let him know my concerns about the men at site 1.

As we approached site 2, we saw a mother and her baby.  She was not amused that we slowed to take pictures.

Later on the return trip we noticed that they were not alone and that there was an entire herd of donkeys in the next field. 

Some of site 2 was still intact.  It was interesting seeing the skill they used in making the structures.

It was upsetting to see the damage that had been done to the site.  So many greedy people had taken and destroyed so much.

We returned to the visitor's center and the ranger was there.  He did confront the two men at site 1 and had them empty their pockets.  They had filled them with relics from the site. So sad that some people do not respect others property.