From this vantage point you can view the whole compound. The walls enclosed an area of 2⅛ acres. Most of the dwellings in the village were one story high.
In 1951, Paul Coze, an Arizona artist, painted a restoration of the Ruin. This painting, on [page 10], may help you visualize what the village looked like 650 years ago. The high standing walls to your left are remains of the tall building in the lower left-hand corner of the painting.
The prehistoric Indian canal used to irrigate farmlands in this area lay north of the Monument but curved to the south and passed near the farm shed visible one-half mile to the west. The high bank to the south and west is the line of the modern canal. The Indians cultivated the land to the west beyond the modern canal, walking from one-half to one mile to reach their fields.
13. Southeast Quarter.
The vacant area to your right once had houses on it, but they were of rather flimsy upright-pole-and-mud construction and little remains of them but floors and wall post holes. The open places in the village were used for children’s play, work areas, outdoor cooking, and other purposes.
14. The Casa Grande.
Again we come back to the Casa Grande. This is a unique structure in this region and its major purpose or function is not known. It does not have the appearance of a normal dwelling. Theories that the structure might have been a fort-like watchtower fail to explain what people the Casa Grande folk might have been watching. (There is no real evidence of warfare or strife.) Recent investigations have suggested that certain openings in the upper walls may have been utilized for astronomical observations, but whether the entire structure was built for this purpose is mere speculation.
Take nothing but pictures—
Leave nothing but footprints
15. Font’s Room.
This building stood two stories high. Socket holes for the first-story ceiling can still be seen on the east side of the high wall. The room is called Font’s Room for Father Font, a Spanish Franciscan priest who visited here in 1775.