Tuzigoot National Monument ( yuf-x-yav, ʼHaktlakva,
Western Apache: ''Tú Digiz'') preserves a 2- to 3-story
pueblo ruin on the summit of a limestone and sandstone ridge just east of
Clarkdale, Arizona, 120 feet (36 m) above the
Verde River floodplain. The Tuzigoot Site is an elongated complex of stone masonry rooms that were built along the spine of a natural outcrop in the
Verde Valley
The Verde Valley ( yuf-x-yav, Matkʼamvaha; es, Valle Verde) is a valley in central Arizona in the United States. The Verde River runs through it. The Verde River is one of Arizona's last free-flowing river systems. It provides crucial habitat ...
. The central rooms stand higher than the others and they appear to have served public functions. The pueblo has 110 rooms. The
National Park Service currently administers 58 acres (23 ha), within an authorized boundary of 834 acres (338 ha).
″Tú Digiz/Tuzigoot″ is a
Tonto Apache term for "crooked waters,"
from nearby
Pecks Lake, a cutoff
meander of the Verde River; from Tú Digiz one principal Tonto Apache clan gets its name. The pueblo was built by the
Sinagua people between 1125 and 1400 CE. Tuzigoot is the largest and best preserved of the many Sinagua pueblo ruins in the
Verde Valley
The Verde Valley ( yuf-x-yav, Matkʼamvaha; es, Valle Verde) is a valley in central Arizona in the United States. The Verde River runs through it. The Verde River is one of Arizona's last free-flowing river systems. It provides crucial habitat ...
. The ruins at Tuzigoot incorporate very few doors; instead, the inhabitants used ladders accessed by trapdoor type openings in the roofs to enter each room.
The monument is on land once owned by United Verde/
Phelps Dodge. The corporation sold the site to
Yavapai County for $1 so that the excavation could be completed under the auspices of federal relief projects. The county in turn transferred the land to the federal government.
Tuzigoot was excavated from 1933 to 1935 by Louis Caywood and Edward Spicer of the
University of Arizona, with funding from the federal
Civil Works Administration
The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was a short-lived job creation program established by the New Deal during the Great Depression in the United States to rapidly create mostly manual-labor jobs for millions of unemployed workers. The jobs were ...
and
Works Project Administration. In 1935–1936, with additional federal funding, the ruins were prepared for public display, and a
Pueblo Revival-style museum and visitor center was constructed.
Franklin D. Roosevelt designated Tuzigoot Ruins as a
U.S. National Monument on July 25, 1939. The
Tuzigoot National Monument Archeological District
Tuzigoot National Monument ( yuf-x-yav, ʼHaktlakva, Western Apache: ''Tú Digiz'') preserves a 2- to 3-story pueblo ruin on the summit of a limestone and sandstone ridge just east of Clarkdale, Arizona, 120 feet (36 m) above the Verde River floo ...
was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.
The ruins are surrounded by the
tailings pond of the former United Verde copper mine at
Jerome. The tailings have recently been stabilized and revegetated.
Climate
Tuzigoot National Monument has a
semi-arid climate (
Köppen: ''BSk'') with cool winters and very hot summers.
Gallery
Image:tuzigoot.jpg, Tuzigoot National Monument
Image:Tuzigoot, pond 1945.jpg, Tuzigoot, viewed from across the old tailings pond, 1945
Image:Tuzigoot Museum near (Clarkdale, Arizona).jpg, Tuzigoot Museum
See also
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List of historic properties in Clarkdale, Arizona
This is a list, which includes a photographic gallery, of some of the remaining structures and monuments, of historic significance in Clarkdale, a former mining town in Yavapai County, Arizona. Clarkdale was Arizona's first master-planned commun ...
References
External links
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National Park Service National Monuments in Arizona
Archaeological sites in Arizona
Archaeological museums in Arizona
Museums in Yavapai County, Arizona
Native American museums in Arizona
Ancient Puebloan archaeological sites in Arizona
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona
National Register of Historic Places in Yavapai County, Arizona
Protected areas of the Sonoran Desert
Protected areas of Yavapai County, Arizona
Former populated places in Yavapai County, Arizona
Ruins in the United States
1939 establishments in Arizona
Protected areas established in 1939
Sinagua