Tsirege is a classic Anasazi Pueblo archaeological site located north of Pajarito Road (now closed to the public) about one mile west of White Rock, New Mexico

White Rock, New Mexico

White Rock is a census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 6,045 at the 2000 census. It is largely a bedroom community for employees of Los Alamos National Laboratory and their families...

 on property owned by Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...

. Tsirege consists of approximately 800 rooms, was occupied from circa 1325 to circa 1600, and is regarded by the people of San Ildefonso

San Ildefonso

San Ildefonso, or La Granja, or La Granja de San Ildefonso, is a town and municipality in the province of Segovia, Spain, situated some 54 km northwest of Madrid.-History:...

 Pueblo as ancestral. The name means "bird place" in the Tewa language

Tewa language

Tewa is a Kiowa–Tanoan language spoken by Pueblo people, mostly in the Rio Grande valley in New Mexico north of Santa Fe. The 1980 census counted 1,298 speakers, almost all of whom are bilingual in English...

. The site includes a long defensive wall, 10 kivas, a reservoir, and many significant petroglyph

Petroglyph

Petroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...

panels. Tours of the site are rarely offered (twice per decade on average).