Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park

The Pueblo Grande Ruin and Irrigation Sites are pre-Columbian archaeological sites in Phoenix, Arizona. They include a prehistoric platform mound and irrigation canals.

The Phoenix area was home to a thriving civilization called Huhugam by the culturally affiliated O’odham and the Hohokam peoples. These Ancestral Native Americans created the archaeological structures preserved at Pueblo Grande.

Pueblo Grande features a large platform mound with retaining walls. This massive structure contains over 20,000 cubic meters (yards) of fill. There were also many dwellings, and at least three ball courts.

The Hohokam people occupied the Phoenix area for over 2,000 years. They created roughly 135 miles (217 kilometers) of irrigation canals, making the desert land arable.

The Hohokam archaeological culture developed some of the largest and most advanced canal systems in all of pre-Columbian North America. They were the first people to practice irrigated agriculture in the region.

Hohokam Sacaton red-on-buff plate, 950-1150 AD

They also carried out extensive trade with the nearby Ancient Puebloans, as well as with the more distant Mesoamerican civilizations.

Pueblo Grande was occupied from approximately A.D. 450 to 1450, at which time it was abandoned like many other villages throughout the Phoenix basin.

The reasons why they left their villages and irrigation systems are widely debated among archaeologists. Many competing hypotheses include floods, droughts, warfare, and disease.

The platform mound and the surrounding land became part of the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park.

The museum facility offers exhibit galleries and functions as a repository for archaeological collections from the City of Phoenix.