This is our fourth set of Indian pueblo ruins - interesting how they mostly look the same. These ruins also represent where the Sinagua lived (the ancestors of the Hopi and several other tribes). Tuzigoot (pronounced tuzi-woot) ruins look to be better preserved - however, this is partly because the government sent in workers to shore it up, and they actually partially rebuilt some of the rooms, until it was realized that's a no-no. The trash cans and brooms are not original to the site!
These rooms were larger than the other Sinagua ruins we've recently seen - the rooms here are 12' x 18' and 5'6" high. The ranger told us that the men were about 5'5" at their tallest, and the tallest women were about 5'1". Again, the openings are through the roof, and they used ladders to climb in. By making the entrances on the roof, it was easier to keep out snakes, enemies, and other unwanted visitors.
-----The "condo" rooms were 5 levels high. The first ones to be built were the ones on the top of the hill - this way, these pioneers could see far & wide if enemies were approaching. The newcomers built on the next level down, and so on. That meant that, if you lived on the top 5th level, you had to climb up five ladders from the bottom to get to your roof, and then climb down into your room. The women were the ones to bring in water from a nearby river, so they had to haul it to the puebla, then climb all those ladders! I bet the men were too busy watching the Giants play!!
