Tuzigoot National Monument

Tuzigoot National Monument is located between Cottonwood and Clarkdale, AZ, about 20 minutes from where we were staying in Camp Verde . Tuzigut (TWO-zee-goot) is an Apache word meaning "crooked water," and it refers to nearby Peck's Lake, which is a meander of the Verde River that has been cut off to form a lake. Tuzigoot is the ruins of an ancient Sinagua (Seen-AH-wha) Indian pueblo. The pueblo was occupied from about 1125 AD to 1400 AD.

We stopped in the visitor center where they had displays of Indian artifacts recovered from the site. The pueblo was excavated and the structure was partially rebuilt in the 1930s under the WPA.

The pueblo was built on a hill above a flood plain of the Verde River. The Sinagua people were farmers, and they came to this area because of the availability of water. The pueblo was built over a period of time, and eventually grew to over 100 rooms with about 225 residents. The pueblo was two, and possibly three stories high in places. The visitor center has a small scale model that helps visualize how the overall structure once looked.

The pueblos were built from river rock gathered from the Verde River and stones from the ridge itself. Mud was used to hold the stones in place. Roofs were made from adobe laid over log supports. Like other pueblos we have seen, access to the rooms was through hatches in the roof. This was done so the inhabitants could pull up the ladders and make it harder for enemies to gain access in the event of attack. The hatches also served as smoke holes for the cooking fire.

The visitor center also had a simulation of what one of the pueblo rooms might have looked like.

After looking around the visitor center, we climbed the walkway up to the pueblo.

 

The walls have only been partially rebuilt. When you look into the rooms in the bright sunshine, it's hard to imagine how dark and smoky it must have been inside.

 

From the top of the pueblo, you can look down onto the rooms and see how they were just added on wherever they fit without any master plan.

There is a nice view of the surrounding area from the top of the pueblo. The land was once owned by United Verde Mining and later by Phelps Dodge who sold it to the county for $1. The land was then transferred to the Federal Government so excavation and restoration could begin. In the background just beyond the pueblo in the photo below is the visitor center, also built by the WPA.

You can also see the mining town of Jerome where we visited a few days ago up on the hillside overlooking the valley.

To get to the top of the pueblo, visitors pass through an enclosed room that helps give an idea of what the inside was like, although there are changes that make things safer and more convenient today. The ceilings of the original pueblo were said to have only been about 5 1/2 feet high, and access to the "roof" is now by wide metal steps with handrails instead of a small, wooden ladder.

After we toured the pueblo, we happened upon a ranger presentation behind the visitor center. The ranger was explaining the evolution of weapons used by the Indians to hunt game, which was plentiful along the river and in in the marshes. The ranger is holding a rabbit stick which is a heavy stick that would have been thrown at a rabbit. From what we saw at Tucson Mountain Park, the jackrabbits are very wary and very fast. It would have taken a lot of skill to provide food for your family.

 

We stopped at Walmart on the way back to the motor home to stock up on groceries. We left Camp Verde the next morning with the Grand Canyon as our destination.