forty-onecrush posted a photo:

Also known as the SRPMIC Cemetery, on the outskirts of Mesa. I stumbled upon this while driving towards McDowell Mountain today, as I found that McQueen Drive came to a dead end. I decided to wind my way towards Gilbert Road and while doing so, I found this cemetery.

Upon finding it, I was very humbled by what I saw. This cemetery is filled with mounds and mounds of graves, with many only marked with white crosses or markers. I’ve never seen anything like it and was trying to absorb it all wondering if these burials were due to customs of the deceased or if the people/families were too poor to pay for anything more than this.

The graves you see here are well kept and adorned with the things the families wanted to mark on the graves; however, there were many graves that were unmarked and left with nothing but the dirt covering and a few stones outlining where the remains are.

Later as I returned home, I researched a little more and found that this is a Salt Water Pima Indian Cemetery. It gives me a little more understanding as to who might be buried there and why the graves are as such. I’m still humbled by it all. I’ve never seen anything like it. It gives me an appreciation for the diverse cultures and customs that are in the region I live. I know I’ve walked away never forgetting.

More: continued here

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