Even if you have been to a national park before, many times there are new things to learn each time you visit.
.
Our last stop at Casa Grande Ruins was over 20 years ago. The ruins are still there as they have been since around 1350. This 4 story – 60' long "Great House" has been protected by a canopy since 1932. It is estimated that it was built by the ancestors of the Indians of today, the Hohokam. The Hohokam left no written record of their community so all finds and uses are suppositions.
.
What has changed since we were last here is that the public no longer can climb up into the Great House and look through the alignment of holes marking the solstice and sun and moon positions. Questions still remain: How had the Hohokam known this? The building is aligned to the compass cardinal points. How had they figured this out? It is estimated that 3000 TONS of caliche (sand and clay concrete) built this building and only two feet of this slurry could be applied wet at a time without collapsing. That explains the horizontal breaks every two feet. How much experimentation was done to figure this out? How many people were required to bring building materials and water from away?
More excavation of the monument site has been done in recent years. More relics and building foundations exposed. It is estimated that there was a community here for over 1000 years with 20+ small agricultural villages near the 29 miles of hand dug canals off the nearby Gila River.
 |
| I've added the red marks to show the pours |
This structure was protected in 1892, when this area of the desert was mostly uninhabited. Today much cotton is grown in this area as was done during the Hohokam era but now there is a Sun City 5 miles away and a WalMart across the street. Progress.
