No one seems to know the origin of the spirit totem nor exactly how long it’s been present on “Deadman Flats” and the edge of Navajo lands. Locals will tell you the totem has been around “a very long time” or “for as long as I remember.” 

Wupatki National Monument, a place of ancient pueblos, is just east of the totem, as is the Navajo sacred place, Chezzhin Deez’d, Black Point or Black-Rock Point, an ancient basalt lava flow where the founders of the Western Water Clans journeyed eastward from the point of their creation on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, crossed the Little Colorado on their way from the San Francisco Peaks.

Travelers often leave gifts and tokens in the totems. Possibly it is for safe travels, maybe it is in respect to the ancients who travelled past years ago.