Archaeologists working at the Petrified Forest National Park in the high desert of northern Arizona have discovered another ancient village that is dated to be around 13 hundred years old. Remains of the village site were found within a mile of a previously discovered village also featuring stone slab pit houses.

Archaeologists working at the Petrified Forest National Park in the high desert of northern Arizona have discovered another ancient village that is dated to be around 13 hundred years old.

Remains of the village site were found within a mile of a previously discovered village also featuring stone slab pit houses.

Experts estimate that each of the villages has over 50 structures.

According to Bill Reitze, the park's archaeologist: "These sites are often in large sand dunes, but there is no rock there. So any kind of slab at all that you find out there was brought in by people."

Other evidence of ancient habitation sites include small ceramic pottery, and carved stone tools like spear points, and knives made from petrified wood and shells.

The land belonging to the park is divided between Apache and Navajo counties. In 2004, the Petrified Forest National Park Expansion Act passed doubling the area of protected land in the park.

Since the park is getting larger, there have been an abundance of significant archaeological finds including the remains of a multi-story structure that indicates the area may have had an ancient trade network.