Being a social scientist, I'm fascinated with Archeology. Being a fan of Indiana Jones added fuel to my interests. I've visited many old sites in England. You can hardly avoid them in England. I've been looking for old sites in North America so was delighted to visit Casa Grande.
We haven't preserved many of our pre-Columbian sites in North America and our climate combined with native building materials have worked to destroy much of what was here before Columbus. However, enough is left at Casa Grande to give an idea of how people lived here during what was called the Middle-Ages in Europe.
Casa Grande in Arizona, about an hour south-east of Phoenix, is well worth a visit. The site was abandoned by the native peoples around 1400 as they moved onto farms outside the village, dispersing as far west as California.
We haven't preserved many of our pre-Columbian sites in North America and our climate combined with native building materials have worked to destroy much of what was here before Columbus. However, enough is left at Casa Grande to give an idea of how people lived here during what was called the Middle-Ages in Europe.
Casa Grande in Arizona, about an hour south-east of Phoenix, is well worth a visit. The site was abandoned by the native peoples around 1400 as they moved onto farms outside the village, dispersing as far west as California.
I love the saguaro. This one has so much personality. Saguaro live 150-200 years and don't develop arms until they are 50 years old. This village was surrounded by a seven food wall surrounding the homes, gardens and civic center. Archeologists say the wall was most likely not for protection against other people. They didn't find signs of war in the area. I'm inclined to think the wall was erected to keep out the rattlesnakes and perhaps provide some shade. It would be hard to grow squash, corn and beans in the relentless Sonoran sun. Most modern gardeners agree that getting down on the ground and digging out rocks in rattlesnake country is creepy. My Arizona friends build walls around their gardens, maybe the old people did too.
This is the front of the main structure at Casa Grande. The building is 35 feet tall (about 10 meters) Archeologists think this may have been the town hall or civic center.
The wood stairs leading up to the second floor are a contemporary addition as the original adobe stairs are long gone. Mostly they emphasize where access to the second floor was. This was a three story building with access to the roof.
This is the back wall of the main building. That is my hubby in the red shirt. In the upper right of the picture there is a square hole near the top of the building and if you look closely you can see another square hole in the upper left. These are calendar holes. One captures the summer solstice and the other captures the full moon on an 18 year cycle. Nobody knows why these people built the moon calendar the way they did. Maybe they just wanted a window in their building.
Moon Calendar
This photo was taken looking east to give some idea of the extent of the village. Beyond the houses, they had their fields then the wall.
This was on the north side of the main building. The houses in the village appear to have been substantial buildings as these walls indicate.
This is the same building as in the picture above. I'm looking at the walls from the end. The hallways and rooms were small. They must have had stairs to the second floor and roof but those are gone.
More of the village looking west. We saw some of the outer wall from the highway. At the point where we could see it, it was about 200 yards from the outer edge of the village. In other places it was much farther. Our docent assured us that the wall was out there but too far to see from the village.
The Sonoran Desert is abundant with life in this area. We saw birds everywhere even a roadrunner and yes, we saw coyote too.
Inside the museum at Casa Grande we saw some ancient tools and some huge pots that had survived the elements by being buried in the ground. We saw one of the balls they use in games. It was a rock covered with a latex type substance. The museum had a map showing all the known pre-Columbian ball fields in the Phoenix area. They had more ball fields near Phoenix before Columbus arrived in the Americas than they do now. Judging by what the early explorers found, the teams played against other teams.
While Hubby was excited about the ball games, I was fascinated with the farming and irrigation systems. These communities had elaborate irrigation systems. The main canals were 20 feet wide and 20 feet deep, There were over 200 miles of these canals serving the peoples in the Casa Grande area. The canals started in the mountains, diverting water from the Gila River and the Salt River, which flows through Phoenix.
While Hubby was excited about the ball games, I was fascinated with the farming and irrigation systems. These communities had elaborate irrigation systems. The main canals were 20 feet wide and 20 feet deep, There were over 200 miles of these canals serving the peoples in the Casa Grande area. The canals started in the mountains, diverting water from the Gila River and the Salt River, which flows through Phoenix.
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