Tuzigoot (Apache for “crooked water”) is the remnant of a Southern Sinagua village built between 1125 and 1400. It crowns the summit of a long ridge that rises 120 feet above the Verde Valley. The original pueblo was two stories high in places, with 77 groundfloor rooms. There were few exterior doors; entry was by way of ladders through openings in the roofs. The village began as a small cluster of rooms inhabited by aobut 50 persons for 100 years. In the 1200s the population doubled and then doubled again as refugee farmers, fleeing drought in the outlying areas, settled here. The Southern Sinagua built their pueblos from locally available materials; the cobble walls at Tuzigoot are massive but poorly balanced. Tuzigoot National Monument is located 50 miles southwest of Flagstaff near Cottonwood in the Verde Valley.

Created 7/13/2008.