Tuzigoot Monument

Crowning a desert hilltop is an ancient pueblo, Tuzigoot National Monument. This ancient village or pueblo was built by a Native American culture known as the Sinaguan. The pueblo consists of 110 rooms including a second and third story structures. The pueblo ruin sits on top of a summit ridge of limestone and sandstone, approximately 120 feet above the Verde River flood plain. The first buildings were built by the Sinaguan people between 1125 and 1400. The Sinaguan were agriculturists with trade connections that spanned hundreds of miles. The people left the area around 1400. The site is currently comprised of 42 acres and is the largest, best preserved of the many Sinaguan pueblo ruins in the Verde Valley. Tuzigoot is Apache for "crooked water", from nearby Peck's lake, a cutoff meander of the Verde River. (1)