Tuzigoot National Monument, Clarkdale, AZ (29)
**Tuzigoot National Monument Archeological District** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 66000194, date listed 10/15/1966
Address Restricted
Clarkdale, AZ (Yavapai County)
Tuzigoot (Apache for "crooked water") is the remnant of a Southern Sinagua village built between 1000 and 1400. It crowns the summit of a long ridge rising 120 feet above the Verde Valley. The original pueblo was two stories high in places, with 87 ground-floor rooms. There were few exterior doors; entry was by ladders through roof openings. The village began as a small cluster of rooms inhabited by some 50 persons for 100 years. In the 1200s the population doubled and then doubled again. (from NPS Brochure)
It's possible that environmental factors influenced the decisions people made to move on in their migrations. The climate was changing in the 1300s; as the Medieval Warm Period ended and the Little Ice Age began, both direct and proxy evidence for climate history indicates that the southwest experienced cooler temperatures and significant droughts. These changes may have been among the signals that it was time for the people in the valley to continue their migrations to the northeast.
After the people departed in the 1300s, the pueblo at Tuzigoot stood above the river for centuries, slowly weathering under the sun and infrequent rains until, by the early 1900s, most of the walls had collapsed. People lived continually in the region throughout those centuries, and no doubt periodically passed by or visited the old pueblo where their ancestors lived. (1)
References (1) Tuzigoot NPS www.nps.gov/tuzi/learn/historyculture/human-history.htm
Tuzigoot National Monument, Clarkdale, AZ (29)
**Tuzigoot National Monument Archeological District** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 66000194, date listed 10/15/1966
Address Restricted
Clarkdale, AZ (Yavapai County)
Tuzigoot (Apache for "crooked water") is the remnant of a Southern Sinagua village built between 1000 and 1400. It crowns the summit of a long ridge rising 120 feet above the Verde Valley. The original pueblo was two stories high in places, with 87 ground-floor rooms. There were few exterior doors; entry was by ladders through roof openings. The village began as a small cluster of rooms inhabited by some 50 persons for 100 years. In the 1200s the population doubled and then doubled again. (from NPS Brochure)
It's possible that environmental factors influenced the decisions people made to move on in their migrations. The climate was changing in the 1300s; as the Medieval Warm Period ended and the Little Ice Age began, both direct and proxy evidence for climate history indicates that the southwest experienced cooler temperatures and significant droughts. These changes may have been among the signals that it was time for the people in the valley to continue their migrations to the northeast.
After the people departed in the 1300s, the pueblo at Tuzigoot stood above the river for centuries, slowly weathering under the sun and infrequent rains until, by the early 1900s, most of the walls had collapsed. People lived continually in the region throughout those centuries, and no doubt periodically passed by or visited the old pueblo where their ancestors lived. (1)
References (1) Tuzigoot NPS www.nps.gov/tuzi/learn/historyculture/human-history.htm