MESA, Ariz. — Mesa Grande Cultural Park has a new name to better reflect the property's deep roots to the East Valley's Native American history.
The cultural landmark located near Country Club Drive and Rio Salado Parkway will now be known as Sce:dagĭ Mu:val Va’aki, a phrase meaning "Blue Fly's place of dwelling" in the O'odham language.
The new name is intended to pay tribute to the O'odham and Piipaash communities and their connections to Mesa's ancestral lands.
"This renaming pays tribute to their enduring legacy and the sacred significance of these lands to the O'odham and Piipaash way of life," Mesa Mayor John Giles said in a statement.
The site is home to a temple mound believed to have been constructed starting in A.D. 1100. The village surrounding the mound was once home to an estimated 2,000 members of the Hohokam community.
The large mound is believed to have been where administrative and religious activities were performed. At one time, up to 27,000 acres of farmland was controlled by this site to support the large Indigenous community.
The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the 1980s, the city purchased the site and is it now operated by the Arizona Museum of Natural History. Sce:dagi Mu:val Vaaki will reopen to the public on Nov. 9.
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