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My Home, My Place. Scenes from Arizona.

bigtom13Posted for Everyone to comment on, 5 years ago2 min read

This is where I live and I want to share some of it with you. Pictures from Arizona.

I'll try to give you photos and places you've never seen or heard of. I love my home and it shows me new things even after 20 years of living here and looking.

Tuzigoot: A look at the past. Near Cottonwood, Arizona

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Long before Copper mining, long before cattle ranching, long before Coranado marched into this part of the world Native tribes made their homes here. They farmed and made art, grew and prospered. Then they left. Not without a trace, but certainly with out a known reason. Tuzigoot is one of the traces they left behind.

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Tuzigoot was built by the Sinagua people some time after 1000 CE. It is the largest and best preserved of many Sinagua ruins in the Verde valley. It was clearly built as a defensible position, occupying the only high ground in the immediate area. Farms and an irrigation project were on the valley floor.

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The complex is at least 3 stories tall, with the upper rooms most likely being public areas and the lower two levels being residences. Built entirely with out doors, all the rooms were entered through the roof via a ladder. There are 110 distinct rooms in the complex. It is thought that the farmers actually lived on the valley floor in separate small groups.

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The site was originally excavated during the early 1930s in co operation with the US Government. Later in the '30s a Visitor's Center and Museum was built and Tuzigoot became a National Monument.

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Attractive exhibits, books for sale specific to the area, and a helpful staff make Tuzigoot a great place to visit. Hours spend walking around here give you a different historical perspective,

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The site is not entirely deserted. I saw at least one resident.

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All words and photographs in this post are mine. For better or worse

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