Archaeologists exploring the high desert of northern Arizona have found a pair of “matching” villages that date back some 1,300 years, revealing evidence of a crucial phase in Southwestern prehistory.

Researchers found the two large settlements — about a kilometer apart from each other — while surveying ranch land recently acquired by Petrified Forest National Park.

For the past two summers, park archaeologist William Reitze and his colleagues have been exploring the new lands to see what clues they hold about the distant past.