Casa Grande Ruins

Today we visited Casa Grande prehistoric ruins.  This archeological site was a village of about 3,000 people.  The people were farmers and traders.  They developed a system of canals to irrigate their fields.  In the 1400s their era ended.  No one knows why or what happened.  It is thought that weather conditions -either drought or flooding made the village unsustainable.  The ancient people could have formed smaller family groups making it easier to sustain themselves.  Quite a mystery - like the Mayans and Anasazi.

Monument entrance.  The protective canopy was constructed in the 1930s.

Casa Grande was 4 stories high.The building is partially underground.  About 7 to 9 feet.  It is made of caliche.  A very strong clay and stone material found in the desert under the top layer of sand and dust.  Wooden beams from over 80 miles away were used in the construction.  The roof would have been made of a combination of sticks, cactus ribs and the caliche.

Casa Grande - Great House

Our tour guide explaining holes found in the building

There are holes about 3 inches in diameter on both the east and west sides of the structure.The sun enters through the hole on one side of the building and exits on the other.  This happens on the summer and winter solstice only.  Another hole allows moonlight to enter.  It only happens once every 18 1/2 years.  Why?  the final hole on the west side allows the sun light to enter at sunset.  Very cool.  Apparently ancient buildings all over the world have similar systems.  Including Stone Henge.  How could these different cultures know nothing about each other but have similar technology?  Could aliens be involved?

Opening at upper left fills with light at sunset.

This is an amazing structure.  No one knows for sure what the building was used for.  There is no written or oral history for this ancient civilization.  Houses in the village were much smaller, rectangular in shape and usually only one story.  A few had two stories.  The upper story was probably living space and the other floor for storage.

I thoroughly enjoyed the tour - finding it fascinating.

Update on Wayne's fingers:  A couple of pieces have come out.  Nothing seems to be infected.  They don't hurt anymore, but Wayne is aware of something being inside the digits.