Tonto National Monument in central Arizona preserves well-preserved cliff dwellings on the northeastern edge of the Sonoran Desert, where the Salt River provided a dependable year-round water source in an otherwise dry landscape. Its Lower Ruin and Upper Ruin were occupied by the Salado culture during the 13th, 14th, and early 15th centuries. The people who lived here farmed in the Salt River Valley, hunted and gathered native plants, and produced notable polychrome pottery and finely woven textiles. Surrounded by varied desert and mountain habitats, the site remains an important archaeological record of Salado life in the Southwest and a protected natural landscape.