We spent the afternoon exploring Casa Grande Ruins, the first national archeological park designated in the US. A volunteer gave an extensive presentation about the Ancestral People of the Sonoran Desert and their associated Hohokam culture.
The Casa Grande Ruins are unique: 4 stories high and 60 feet long, it is the largest known structure of theses peoples.
Sometimes it is hard to imagine how many peoples lived in the desert area near Phoenix during their Classic Period. They knew how to find food from the desert plants, there were free flowing rivers (mostly), and they were masters in diverting water and maintaining ditch irrigation systems. They traded extensively throughout the Americas (everyone wants a macaw feather?)
I mean we would look around and say: KEEP MOVING! They looked around and said: PARADISE!
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| Great House is now protected by enormous roof structure |
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| Some believe the building (aligned to 4 cardinal compass points) was used to study celestial bodies |
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| Interior walls remain covered with adobe like structure |
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