Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Jesuit That Rediscovered Arizona's Casa Grande In The 17th Century

In Arizona stands a four-story structure called Casa Grande built by the Hohokam people although little is known about them. Evidence would indicate they were quite sophisticated. They had engineered excellent irrigation canals
allowing them to farm on the desert around 300 BCE.
All that remains of them today is Casa Grande built of sunbaked caliche mud, it still stands as a 35-ft high structure with a 60-ft by 40-ft base and 11 rooms. It required over 600 roof beams of juniper, fir and pine which had to be cut and transported no less than 50 miles. It has a square hole that aligns to the southernmost major lunar standstill and a round window that aligns to the midsummer sunset.
The building appears to be intricately linked to the growing and harvesting of corn, an extremely important staple to Indians of the area. The layout of the rooms suggests that Casa Grande represented the zenith, nadir and world center along with the four directions expressed in three dimensions. The large metal structure over Casa Grande is a shield against erosion. The first white men to encounter Casa Grande were the Jesuit (Fr. Eusebio Kino, S.J.) missionaries in 1694 by which time it had been deserted for over 160 years.

Link (here)

Painting is an artist interpretation of what Casa Grande may have looked like when it was inhabited

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