- 2012 -
Arizona Marks
100th Anniversary as
State!
It's hard to believe that our house in Marshallville was already 52 years old when Arizona became a state in the Union! So what was this region like before? The mountains were here, the dessert, many of the ancient Saquaros....gold seekers, adventure seekers, pioneeers, cattle ranchers and cowboys....lawlessness, gambling and prostitution, hired guns, folks with a past they hoped to leave behind........and Native Americans!
Certainly this year of celebration will concentrate on all that has happened since 1912; a vividly colorful past, but we are still interested in what went on before.....
I returned to Arizona, Jan 10. Jud met me at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Our Christmas with family and friends had been wonderful! We enjoyed the full spirit and meaning of Christmas and shared lots of laughter and merriment with those we miss back "home". We had managed to leave our camera in the car, parked at the airport in Phoenix, so Jud bought a new one "for me" (?) for Christmas. We/he took lots of pictures. Some turned out well (some...not so good! We have to get the hang of it....reading the manual would probably help.) Perhaps I will share some of the better pictures at a later time.
The flight was a late arrival, so we spent the night in Phoenix with a plan to "ramble" back to Tucson, the next day....
About halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, near Coolidge AZ, the renowned Casa Grande Ruins was our primary destination....we made it!
Sun baked soil, extreme temps, no moisture....the middle of the Sonoran Dessert! How could any people have existed here? Yet they did!!! Casa Grande is the remains of a village that existed and flourished for almost 1000 years, from about 350 AD to 1450 AD (some believe it may have existed some 600 years earlier!) How is that possible and what happened to the people? The "how" has been documented, but "what happened" is still a mystery.
The inhabitants of this area had no written language. The first written history of Casa Grande was recorded in 1694, by Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino (Founder of the Mission San Xavier del Bac, "The White Dove" which we visited at Thanksgiving). He described these abandoned remains as "casa grande" (Spanish for "big house"). It has been called that ever since. During the 1860's and 1880's, more people arrived in the Arizona Territory. A railroad pushed through nearby and a stage coach route passed right next to the site....articles were written, souvenier hunters arrived, resulting in graffiti (you know how we are!!!) vandalism and theft of artifacts.
Back East, some became concerned. Their influence convinced President Benjamin Harrison in 1892 to declare Casa Grande Ruins as the first prehistorical and cultural reserve in the US. One square mile surrounding the ruins was set aside in the Arizona Territory....20 years before AZ became a state.
In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson redesignated Casa Grande Ruins as a National Monument to be administered by the National Park Service.
So what? Well....conservaion, preservation began, archeologists began to unravel some of the mysteries. In 1937, the ramada that had been built for preservation was replaced by the Olmsted Shelter. Though somewhat incongruous with the ruins, it has worked well to preserve the ruins, so that what we saw is very much like it was almost 100 years ago.
Archeologists continue to excavate, evaluate and speculate! And they have determined that this was a four story structure, most likely abandoned about 1450....built by the Hohokam (a word the Pima use for their ancestors, a word meaning "all gone", all used up"). Most likely they were descended from Archaic hunter-gatherers who inhabited Arizona for thousands of years. But unlike their predecessors, they were far advanced with engineering and scientific abilities. They tamed the Gila and the Salt Rivers, built a network of canals with villages about every three miles along these canals and changed from nomads to successful farmers.
They irrigated their land to raise crops (corn, squash, gourds, beans, agave....even cotton and tobacco!) which supplemented the gifts of the dessert: edible plants that provided beans, fruits, buds, seeds and cacti (like Saguaro and prickly pear). Game was plentiful....rabbit, pack rats, big horn sheep and mule deer from the distant hillsides; along with fish, waterfowl, turtles from the rivers. The Hohokam flourished and increased in numbers...and knowledge!
Our guide, a very knowledgeable gentleman who obviously enjoys what he does, began to share his understanding of the ruins. This four storied building, 60 feet long, is an ancient marvel. Hand built of caliche (a subsoil found beneath the dessert floor....a natural composite of sand, clay, and limestone... when mixed with water makes mud like concrete!)....
An aside: Jud tells me the caliche beneath the dessert floor is one of the reasons, the "Boneyard" for US Aircraft is located here at Davis Monthan. It provides natural compacted support for the weight of the planes parked here in the dessert. Back to the ancient construction of Casa Grande....
.....Support beams of juniper, pine, and fir were cut and carried from mountain sides 60 miles away (there were no beasts of burden available to this culture). Saguaro ribs were laid perpendicular to the beams, covered with reeds, then more of the caliche....the walls and rooms grew!
This is the largest structure known to exist in Hohokam times.
It's four walls were intentionally aligned with the four cardinal points of the compass (North, East, South and West). A circular hole in the Western Wall...
...aligns perfectly with the setting sun during the Summer Solstice (Jun 21). The square hole in the upper right wall lines up every 18 1/2 years with the setting moon at an extreme point in it's cycle. Other openings line up with the sun and the moon at specific times of the year....one capturing the luna eclipse.
Perhaps it was built as an observatory!
These people were accomplished engineers, users of the land and observers of the heavens....they must have used their knowledge and skills to determine when to plant, harvest, worship and celebrate a rich and fulfilling life!
Though plenty of doors and stairs were evident, we weren't allowed to enter the structure for preservation and safety reasons. But we had a good view from the outside-in!
Excavators have determined that this was also a center for trade. The Hohokam were artists as well as engineers, farmers, and scientists. They created beautiful and useful "red on buff" pottery, woven cotton textiles, baskets and elaborate jewelry. These items were traded to other existing cultures for shells, mirrors, Macaws, and copper bells among other things.
Surrounding the "Big House"....ruins of pithouses, open plazas, walled compounds and platform mounds have been discovered......even a ballcourt!
This three story home was most likely built against the compound wall. It is just one of many homes that stood inside this two acre compound which included the Casa Grande. With just a little imagination we could envision a lively, noisy community...... people working grinding corn, cooking over open fires, creating baskets, going to and from the cultivated fields....children playing, dogs barking....day to day living. But this would have been only a small part of a single village...numerous compounds and other buildings covered a square mile around this site. The ballcourt in the center of the compounds may have been a gathering place for all the "neighborhoods." A place to trade, compete, entertain, celebrate...additional remains are visable from a platform in the picnic area.
Of course archeologists can only speculate, but due to the size of the Casa Grande, the evidence of the vast system of canals and archeological findings.....this must have been an important place....a large community where a people lived, loved, worked, prospered.....and finally disappeared.
The only inhabitants of Casa Grande now are a pair of Horned Owls......
Living in the rafters of the Olmsted Shelter for the past 15 years....this male is on his second mate. Unfortunately, the first female died...but like some (most ?) males, it didn't take him long to find a replacement!
Their only neighbors, those dessert creatures that inhabit the ruins when the tourists are gone.....and perhaps the ghosts of those long ago people....the Hohokam.
2012 promises to be a good year....another journey! Hope it is a happy one for you!
Note: For more about the Hohokam, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohokam
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