Saturday, March 12, 2016

Well, That's About It For The Grandkids - Except For .... Tuzigoot

One last visit to their favorite gold mining town of Oatman, Arizona.

Then it's back to Texas for them.  Their daddies are freakin' out because they've been here for so long!  But who says the fun is over?!?  There's plenty to see on the way to meet Daddy!

First there's Tuzigoot.  (I am so glad someone finally told me how that name should be pronounced!  TWO-see-WHOODT - and I'm glad it was written out because I never would have gotten the last part.)  This ruin was here before the Apache or the Yavapai.  They didn't name it, but in the 1930's there was an Apache on the excavation crew who suggested Tu zighoot, which means "crooked water."  So, the archeologists Caywood and Spicer went with that - almost.  Tuzigoot (TWO-see-goot) is actually not an Apache word meaning anything.  Now you know what people mean when they say something gets lost in the translation...

Regardless of the name, the these guys did a mighty good job of construction.  They obviously intended to be here for quite some time.  This rendering shows a cut-away of what the original structure might have looked like - minus one wall.  There were no doorways, so the archeologists concluded that, once again, access was from a hole in the roof.  There was great security in that!



By the time archeologists discovered this dwelling, however, this is what they encountered.  I wonder what made them believe this was once a housing project?


Ultimately, this is what their excavations uncovered.


 And this is what we found that day.


 Are they looking into the past? or looking for Daddy??


 We are on or way to meet Daddy - but there's much more between here and there!

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