Casa Grande Ruins I
by Donna Greene
Title
Casa Grande Ruins I
Artist
Donna Greene
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photography
Description
The national monument consists of the ruins of multiple structures surrounded by a compound wall constructed by the ancient people of the Hohokam period, who farmed the Gila Valley in the early 13th century. "Archeologists have discovered evidence that the ancient Sonoran Desert people who built the Casa Grande also developed wide-scale irrigation farming and extensive trade connections which lasted over a thousand years until about 1450 C.E."
"Casa Grande" is Spanish for "big house" (Siwan Wa'a Ki: in O'odham); these names refer to the largest structure on the site, which is what remains of a four story structure that may have been abandoned by 1450 C.E. The structure is made of caliche, and has managed to survive the extreme weather conditions for about seven centuries. The large house consists of outer rooms surrounding an inner structure. The outer rooms are all three stories high, while the inner structure is four stories high. The structures were constructed using traditional adobe processes. The process consisted of using damp adobe to form the walls and then waiting for it to dry, and then building it up with more adobe. Case Grande contained a ball court much like that found at Pueblo Grande de Nevada. Graffiti from 19th-century passers-by is scratched into its walls; though this is now illegal. Casa Grande now has a distinctive modern roof covering built in 1932.
Uploaded
December 19th, 2011
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