History & Culture

The Long Life of the Tuzigoot Pueblo

The people who built and lived in the rooms of the Tuzigoot pueblo were part of a thriving community with trade connections stretching hundreds of miles. Their lives were part of a vast and complex society, and they had a deep and nuanced understanding of the world around them.

The pueblo at Tuzigoot consists of over a hundred rooms, and was probably home to several hundred people for several hundred years. After the people left, sometime in the 1300s, the pueblo stood empty until the early 1930s, when it was excavated by American archeologists and then turned into a national monument on July 25th, 1939.

 

 

Left image
Tuzigoot pueblo before excavation, ca. 1920s
Credit: / Sharlot Hall collection

Right image
Early photograph of reconstruction at Tuzigoot
Credit: / Sharlot Hall collection