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asa Grande Ruins Nat. Mon. |
May 4, 2003 |
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Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, south central Arizona, authorized as a ruin
reservation in 1889 and as a monument in 1918. The monument contains the prehistoric
ruins of a Native American people, known today as the Hohokam, who came to the
Gila Valley about ad 700 and built villages and an extensive irrigation system
for farming. They were joined in the 14th century by the Pueblo peoples. The principal
building, Casa Grande, was a watchtower and is the best-preserved structure of its age
and type in the United States. Its walls, of caliche blocks (a cement composed of lime,
earth, and pebbles), still stand at their original height of four stories. In addition
to Casa Grande are ruins of several Hohokam villages. The ruins were discovered by the
Jesuit missionary Eusebio Kino in 1694, at which time they had been abandoned for more
than two centuries. Area, 191 hectares (473 acres).
We made a brief stop here on our way from Phoenix to Yuma on our first trip to Arizona. You can tell that we were new to the desert because of our attraction to the saguaro. Casa Grande is very different from all of the other ruins because of the architecture of its main structure with its unusual watchtower shape. We think it must have been for ceremonial or at least official use. The vestiges of the other structures: homes and a ball court were just that, vestiges, and so it was hard to get excited about them.
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