Downtown Phoenix, Arizona rises above the Valley of the Sun in this view looking south-southeast from a shoulder of Shaw Butte.  The picture is taken from the ruins of the old Cloud Nine Restaurant, which burned down in 1964.
   This broad, flat valley was once the homeland of the great Hohokam civilization -- people who built what was most likely the greatest irrigation system in the prehistoric world.
   Until around 1450 CE, there were perhaps 50,000 people living in and around the valley.  Their culture fell apart for unknown reasons, leaving ruins of pueblos, platform mounds, ball courts, and the canals.  Our new city is named appropriately after the mythical bird that rose from its ashes to live again -- Phoenix.
   Shaw is at the northwestern end of the .
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   See the GeoHistory page if you want to know more about why the landscape looks the way it does, or return to the map of "The Rocks of the Valley of the Sun" for more view locations.
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