With rainy conditions on the horizon, we decided to head out to the one location that had sunshine in the forecast… Tuzigoot National Monument.
Yep, Sun and 60 degrees… that’s what it said… I should have known better! As we drove to Verde Valley, AZ, we were surrounded by rainbows! I was driving so I wasn’t able to get a picture, but no lie, rainbows in every direction! It was absolutely beautiful and also frustrating because I left my favorite pink poncho and my hiking bag at home thinking we were escaping the rain today and headed to the one location that was forecasted for the most perfect November weather. I am not sure why I haven’t learned my lesson yet… I’m just an optimist and clearly trust the weather man way way way to much! But, even with the rain and blistering cold winds, Tuzigoot Monument was the perfect last hike while here in Central Arizona!
Tuzigoot is a 110 room hilltop pueblo built by the Sinaguan people around 1000 AD. The site was excavated between 1933 and 1935 and has been undergoing “stabilization” ever since to preserve the now exposed walls from erosion.
It isn’t hard to see why the Sinaguan people chose this area to call home! With views like these, why would you even consider building somewhere else?
This hilltop has a 360 view of the surrounding valley which was ideal for farming. The Verde River also flows through this land making it an absolute paradise.
These pueblos are vastly different from the pueblos we visited in Homolovi State Park! The rooms here had no windows or doors, entry into the rooms was through a hatch in the roof, and the walls were at least twice the thickness. With this type of engineering and construction, the structure itself is very sound and strong and has stood the test of time!
For comparison, the above photo is a room found at the Homolovi pueblo site built by the Hopi people. The walls are a fraction of the thickness and other rooms had clear signs of side entrance doorways. Seeing the difference between these two sites was fascinating and makes me wonder how the engineering fit their different needs.
During excavation of Tuzigoot, artifacts were collected from the rooms and carefully pieced back together and preserved.
Pottery, arrow heads, grinding stones, textiles, tools, and even figurines were found amongst the ruins.
But not everything found at the site was made by the Sinaguan people! Other artifacts like pottery from many different villages were found, thus giving insight into the relationships that were made between villages.
Pottery made by the Sinaguan people at the Tuzigoot pueblos were large, dark in color, and lacked decorative details… a stark contrast to the pottery of other villages.
History has always fascinated me and learning and seeing how others lived has always filled my mind with wonder. Learning from those who came before us can only make us better ourselves.
We will be heading home in a few days and our time here in Arizona was everything we hoped it would be. I probably haven’t even scratched the surface of everything this area has to offer and it really makes me realize how small I am in this world… and I am not talking the actual size of the world, but the age of this world! We all have just a blink of an eye to write our story.
