Pueblo Grande Museum Archaeological Park

(Phoenix, AZ) Hi 90 Lo 61 – It was windy but it didn’t seem to be stirring up dust, so we continued our American Indian tour to Pueblo Grande Museum. It's a 1,500 year old archaeological site left by the Hohokam culture, and located not far from downtown Phoenix. The Hohokam tribe occupied the Pueblo Grande site from about 450 to 1450 AD, when they mysteriously died out. The theory is flooding caused the dwindling population to flee to other areas, dispersing the tribe for good. (Click on the pictures to enlarge)


The museum entrance. We started by watching a 10-minute orientation video.


This area of Phoenix, known as the Salt River area, was very fertile a thousand years ago. The Hohokam created a complex canal system at the time to irrigate their fields and crops. The ruins were fascinating to look at, as you could see the outlines of various rooms and chambers.








This is a replica of an early pithouse, which was made of wood and covered with adobe.


This is what the interior of a pithouse looked like.




Later on the Hohokam made homes and buildings of pure adobe, as these reproductions show.


The museum in the visitors center was very informative, with a lot of information and artifacts of the Hohokam lifestyle.




There was an exhibit of photographs Arizona ghost towns. There were a couple of photos of Gleeson and Pearce, the two ghost towns we visited a few days ago.




It was very interesting and a great followup to yesterday’s visit to the Heard Museum. The admission was $5, which we thought was very reasonable.

We also took a drive to Glendale, on the west side of Phoenix, to see the University of Phoenix Stadium, where the Arizona Cardinals NFL team plays. Next year's Super Bowl will be played there. When you first see it, it looks like an UFO.


We were hoping to go inside to take some photos, but we weren't allowed in. :(


It's a retractable roof stadium, so they can open the roof on nice days, and close it up to keep bad weather out. The field is real grass, and the roof opening won't allow enough sunshine in to keep the turf healthy. They solved the problem by installing the field on a giant tray, and they roll it outside on tracks into the bright Arizona sunshine. A couple of days before a game they roll in back inside. Very ingenious, and very strange to see.


If you click on the photo you can see the tracks between the field and the end of stadium.




We had another great day seeing more of what Phoenix has to offer. See you tomorrow.