Casa Grande Ruins - November 2012

The Casa Grande Ruins National Monument provided special insight into the ancient Sonoran Desert people.

The unique architecture and building methods was quite grand to see close up.

The Casa Grande (great house) is one of the largest prehistoric structures ever built in North America.  Its purpose remains a mystery, as does it's demise. It was built in about 800 C.E. and abandoned in about 1450.

The folks who built the Casa Grande also developed wide-scale irrigation farming and extensive trade connections which lasted from about 450 until about 1450 C.E. Over 1200 miles of irrigation channels were dug, with stone tools and without any mathematical knowledge!

It is thought that Casa Grande was abandoned either to dought, which would have limited food supplies, or that there were simply greener pastures somewhere else.

All of the elements of STEM were here. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but in ancient forms. Examples:

Science: determining when the winter and summer solstace occurred, providing a "calendar" to use in setting the seasons for planting and harvesting crops.

Technology: making building materials from local sources, and building the walls of the Great House wider on the bottom and narrower on the bottom so they would distribute the weight.

Engineering: developing stone tools that were for specific tasks; some for hunting, some for skinning, etc.

Mathematics: they would not have has anything like our modern math, but somehow they figured out a solar calendar and the holes on the Great House that would line up with the solstaces.

More information can be found at this link: http://www.nps.gov/cagr/index.htm

The Great House has a protective cover that was built in the 1930's

 

 

 

The Portals near the top of the West wall on the left and right

are aligned with the winter and summer solstaces

Fishhook Barrel Cactus

 

"Grafitti" from visiting soldiers

 

Quail

 

Petroglyphs



Petroglyph Point - November 2012

Here at Petroglypg Point in Prescott, a prominent granite outcrop contains over 100 petroglyph elements, with a nearby public trail. This site has been a popular picnic spot since the 1800's and contains the names and dates of those early visitors, as well as, a beautiful array of prehistoric elements.

And this was all within 100 feet of the road!

Montezuma's Well - November 2012

Montezuma's Well is near the Castle.

By the way, both of these sites have nothing to do with Montezuma, as was believed back in the 1800's. Montezuma never made it this far North.

From cliff dwellings perched along the rim to large pueblo ruins and an ancient pit house, the variety of these archeological sites is a testament to the ingenuity of these people.

The Well is still considered sacred by many local tribes.

The 74 degree water was the life-blood of the people. The water comes into the Well via nattual springs that do not feel the sting of the harsh Arizona droughts. Sections of this ditch date back over 1,000 years. THey built irrigation channels for use in farming in areas near the Well.

Early visitors did leave inscriptions, of course. And the waterfowl do very well here.

http://www.nps.gov/moca/montezuma-well.htm

 

 

 

 

Montezuma's Castle - November 2012

We had been to Montezuma's Castle 2 times over the last 20-some years, but a refresher (with a better camera) was a lot of fun. We got re-educated!

The main part of the Castle is a 20 room dwelling built into a limestone cliff. These were are hardy and innovative people, living in the desert and all that. In total, they have discovered 45-50 rooms in the ruin that was built by the Sinagua people who inhabited this riparian "oasis" along Beaver Creek for over 400 years.

Although the climate is arid with less than 12 inches of annual rain, several streams feed the Verde Valley where the Castle resides.

They grew the little eenie weenie teenie tiny corn of the era, and lived on that plus seed-foods and the fruits of the cactus. They were basically hunter/gatherers that also farmed.

The pictures below show the main Castle, ajoining ruins near the valley floor, the Verde River tht flows nest to it, and the model of the Castle with the front cut away to see what living there was like.

http://www.nps.gov/moca/index.htm

http://www.nps.gov/moca/planyourvisit/directions.htm

 

 

 

 

Vista Park Petroglyphs, Prescott, Nov 2012

Numerous petroglyphs are found throughout the Prescott area.

At Vista Park, the Hopi Tribe (ca 1200-1500AD) found a way to tell when the Summer Solstace and the Winter Solstace happened.  It was their calendar!

Petroglyphs are rocks with carved pictures, not to be confused with pictographs which are paintings on rocks. The Hopi carved the petroglyphs by stiking the "picture" stone with a smaller stone that was much harder, in most cases volcanic and sedimentary rocks struck by granite.

From this small, un-named mesa, when the sun sets in the notch of Granite Mountain (about 10 miles from the mesa) it is June 21st. When the sun sets at the base of Thumb Butte (about 5 miles from the mesa) it is December 22nd. So, 6 months from one to the other, and 6 months back; a year! We can only imagine how they used the information, perhaps when to plant crops, perhaps there was spiritual meaning.

There are mostly sun symbols, but there are also charts (celestial?), and also human and animal figures.

No two petroglyphs are alike. Over time, there may have been changes in the meaning of the images and in how they were made. The true meaning of of this unique art from may never be known, but the thrill of seeing it is chilling.

Thumb Butte: little bump 1/6 of the way from left



The notch in Granite Mountain, center

 



Depiction by the site discoverers

 

The one in the depiction

 

This was 3 symbols on 1 rock that had broken

 

When I adjusted the color, I noticed another

image in the lower right

 

Scorpion,  With antennae!  How cool is that!



Celestial image.  A constellation?

Human.  Dancing?

 

Sun sign

 

Maybe a child made it?

 

Vista Park

 

Mingus Mountain, AZ 11-07-2012

There was a really nice dirty, dusty trail going up Mingus Mountain, so we took it!

Mingus, at 7800 feet, is noted as a launching point for all forms of hang-gliding and ultra-light aircraft. They even have a concrete ramp that slopes off the top edge. Most land at prescribed points in the valley below near Cottonwood, but some have been known to catch some awesome thermals and go all the way to Flagstaff.

We did NOT get too close to the edge!

Would love to be on hand when they take off.