When we decided to stay at Dead Horse Ranch the only ruins in the area we knew about was Montezuma's Castle, which we visited a few years ago. We had no idea that Tuzigoot National Monument existed.
We took a walk from the campground to the river and saw something up on a hill. Tom said "Those look like ruins."
When we first saw the ruins on the hill, they appeared to be across the Verde River from the park. Instead, the river winds around behind the hill.
This old photo shows what the area looked like prior to 1933. You can tell from the pattern of rocks that something was there. An excavation led by archaeologists Louise Caywood and Edward Spicer provided work to local families during the Depression.
Many pots were reconstructed from fragments during that period. Now the glue is being carefully removed, returning them to the state in which they were originally discovered.
"Sin agua" is "Without water" in Spanish.
Another interesting fact mentioned inside the visitor center: after leaving Tuzigoot the people moved north to new settlements including Homolovi.
Enjoy some of our pictures from Tuzigoot.
Each room originally had a hearthstone in the center.
A staircase in this room leads to a viewing area on top of the hill-top building.
The view from the top.
From below, looking up to the top building.
One of the current residents.
We could see some more rooms below which were only partly excavated and not accessible via the trail.
View back toward the state park. The green trees are cottonwoods along the river, the black are velvet mesquite not yet leafed out.
If you find yourself in the Cottonwood/Sedona area, this National Monument is well worth the visit.
