Tuzigoot National Monument: Excavation and Reconstruction – Clarkdale AZ

Description

Tuzigoot is an ancient hilltop settlement of the Sinagua people, c 1100-1400 A.D.  It is one of the largest of scores of such settlements throughout the Verde River valley of Northern Arizona.  By the 20th century, the buildings on the site, made of stone and adobe, had fallen completely to ruin.

The New Deal aided in the archeological reconstruction of the site in the early 1930s.  The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) began providing funds in October 1933 and this was continued under the Civil Works Administration (CWA) from November 1933 to June 1934.  This allowed for the hiring of two archeologists and 50 relief workers to aid in the excavation and reconstruction of the dwelling site. The project was led by Louis Caywood and Edward Spicer of the University of Arizona.

Eighty-six rooms were excavated and their walls rebuilt (out of a total of 110 ultimately uncovered). Over 400 burial sites were also uncovered.  

Tuzigoot was named a National Monument in 1939 and the land transferred over from Yavapai County to the federal government.