 |
| The drive to Globe on one of many scenic mountain roads |
The drive took a little less than 2 hours through very picturesque winding mountain roads. I could not take sufficient pictures as each turn seemed, to me, more beautiful than the previous one.
It is commonly believed that the Hohokam (I love the sound of that name) occupied this site around about 900 A.D. building what is called a pit-house settlement. They abandoned it sometime around 1100 A.D. The present ruins are from the Salado who built a pueblo here in the 13th century and they too abandoned it in the 15th century. Archaeologists can only hypothesize as to why the Salados suddenly left this place, and, as to where they went, that is left to conjecture as well.
 |
| Looking at the excavated site from the entrance |
 |
| John examining one of the walls |
The Salado structures (as you can see from the photos) had more than one level; the ground floors were used for storage, tools, etc; the upper level was used for living. The site has been excavated and most of the ruins are now under controlled restoration.
The rooms are well laid out. There are no large doors leading from one room into another. Instead there are small rectangular openings.
 |
| Bow drill used for making holes in beads |
The site is adjoined by a very small museum exhibiting artifacts from the excavated sites; plenty of pottery, some baskets and weavings.
 |
| remnants of a woven basket |
The museum store was rather pitiful - more of a joke I would say. I was terribly appalled to note that the baskets for sale were made in Pakistan; the pottery was from the Dakotas (at least it is from the same continent) and there was not a single item made by people from the surrounding areas except for locally made jelly.
From there we drove to Tonto National Monument which is a half hour drive north of Globe.
I will reserve that for the next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment