Traveling north toward Phoenix we stopped at the Casa Grande Ruins, a part of the National Parks. One of many sites in the valley this is the largest and has survived both desert and man. The Hohokam with origins of both Archaic hunter-gathers and Mesoamerican were the people that built the structures, planted crops along irrigation canals they built, made pottery and traded with other tribes along the waterways from as far north as the 4 corners region and as far south as Mexico. Shells from the gulf of California as common finds in the excavations and copper from tropical parts of Mexico give evidence of the trade. The 4 story structure see in the photos was built from caliche found in the subsoil beneath their feet. The structures uses are not fully know but it is clear that this was an observatory that supported a calendar using the sun and moon alignments. The circular windows align during the solstice and lunar events.
As we were leaving the ranger that gave the tour pointed out the most recent inhabitants that sat up in the top of the steel structure protecting the great house, a pair of great horned owls who were sleeping without care for us humans below.
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