Tuzigoot National Monument, Arizona

The Tuzigoot National Monument, Arizona, is located close to Cottonwood, Arizona, and is home to American Native tribal ruins. The site is federally maintained, offering guests a chance to view these well-preserved examples of pueblo living, a museum and a visitor center. Tours are available year round, and many visitors will be glad they took the time to have a look.

There are many ancient pueblo ruins dotted throughout Arizona, usually villages of past forgotten tribes. Most are federally owned, though some still sit on native lands. One of the biggest of these can be found not far from nearby Cottonwood, where the Tuzigoot National Monument sits just a short drive away. Many visitors, who visit other ruins, also make this one of their main priorities.

The site preserves a summit-covered area of ancient village buildings, some standing as high as three levels high. They sit high above the Verde River's floodplain, and are dotted across some fifty eight acres.

The word Tuzigoot means 'crooked water' in Apache because of its distance from the nearest water sources, the Verde River and Peck's Lake. According to archaeologists, the site was constructed by Native Sinagua somewhere between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.

The original section of land belonged to a local car firm, which finally sold the ruins and land to the county. Thereafter archaeological digs were undertaken by federal teams to preserve and document its history. In the end it was given to the federal government and turned into a national monument.

Another exciting feature of the site is the local museum which houses varied artifacts. It also provides the history of the area during settler times when the site was part of lands used for copper mining. In fact, part of the excavations involved later stabilization and revegetation of the land.