DAY 8

Saturday morning dawned clear and bright, at 6-ish, with the rooster crowing once again! 

Eating our breakfast and plugging in the address on the IPhone maps app for our first destination, Walter and I pointed our Jetta for the 101( which is like Ring Road or Circle Drive for Saskatchewanians who might be reading this).  We arrived at the Pueblo Grande Museum by mid-morning.  The sun was hot and not a cloud would provide any shade.  The museum was quiet and we wandered inside briefly, before heading out to the ruins.

Just outside the museum doors in a patio area were a few guests and under a canopy were several flute players.  This day was a special feature of Native American flute playing demonstrations.  We paused to listen before carrying on down the paved path.  The occasional display gave explanations of the regions along the Salt River and the group of Native people who had lived in this area. 

Over a thousand years ago, a tribal group settled in the area, using their primitive tools to dig irrigation canals and develop an extensive system in order to grow vegetable gardens and other crops. These folks set up a community which consisted of rooms and storage areas on a mound, of which we hiked around the ruins.  Constructed of adobe-like materials and some stone, this raised area may have housed the leaders and elite of the community or perhaps was used for religious ceremonies.  A few other structures were found away from these mounds which were like the Navajo “hogans”, round adobe structures as single family dwellings.  Not much is known about these peoples, except that they moved away from the area. Now only this one ruin site has been preserved within the modern growth of the city of Phoenix.  Likely they are ancestors of present-day Pima tribes and possibly others, as well.

This museum was fascinating and mysterious. We saw diagrams of their irrigation systems which covered a vast area of the Salt River area.  Baskets and pottery pieces recovered in the archaeological digs were compared with the modern-day tribes' styles and designs.  Walter and I truly do enjoy the cultural anthropology field and were amazed at the advances of this people group for their day.  The geographic region, the weather and seasons all affect how the people developed as a community and related to each other.  Similarities to our Canadian tribes existed, but with the obvious regional differences influenced by our geography and seasons.  

The heat of the day was hitting us and we made sure we hydrated well before moving to our next location.  Our fireside friends of the night before mentioned that the “Native American Hoop Dancing Competition” was happening this weekend at the Heard Museum so we figured it would be good to check that out.  We wondered about parking and crowds but found space a few minutes’ walk and the crowds were n’t too overwhelming.