Tuzigoot National Monument

Tuzigoot National Monument

Tuzigoot National Monument, archaeological site in central Arizona, U.S. It is located in the Verde River valley, 2 miles (3 km) east of Clarkdale; Montezuma Castle National Monument is about 20 miles (32 km) southeast. The monument, established in 1939, occupies an area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 square km); its name is from an Apache word meaning “crooked water.”

The monument’s outstanding feature is the ruin, excavated in 1933–34 and partially rebuilt, of a Sinagua Indian pueblo (village) containing 110 rooms that was occupied between about ad 1000 and 1400. Originally the hilltop pueblo rose two or three stories high, and ladders provided access to its rooms through openings in the roofs. A museum displays artifacts such as stone and horn implements, jewelry, matting, and pottery, all recovered from the floors of the pueblo and from graves.