Tuzigoot National Monument

About 15 minutes from our campsite is Tuzigoot National Monument.

This is the excavated ruins of a 119 room pueblo which we visited on Monday. It was built in stages, between about 1100 and 1300 CE.

It sits atop a hill…

with a view of the river plain around it and the distant mountains. Tuzigoot loosely means river bend. Of course we don’t know what the original inhabitants called it, but Apaches who worked on the excavation in the 1930’s named it that.

At the top of the structure some rooms were partially reconstructed. Today that wouldn’t be done because in carrying out the reconstruction some archeological information was no doubt lost.

It was interesting to see the building technique,

and it did give access to that view.

The small museum had some impressive pieces of pottery. The largest of these jars was probably close to three feet in diameter.

It was an enjoyable visit to a very interesting place.