Montezuma Well
Verde Valley, Yavapai County, Arizona
part of the Montezuma Castle National Monument
snippets from Wikipedia: Montezuma Well is a natural limestone sinkhole through which some 1,500,000 US gallons of water emerge each day from an underground spring. The Well measures 386 feet (118 m) in diameter from rim to rim and contains a near-constant volume of spring water even in times of severe drought, amounting to approximately 15,000,000 US gallons. As with Montezuma Castle, the label "Montezuma" is a misnomer: the Aztec emperor Montezuma had no connection to the site or the early indigenous peoples that occupied the area.
Archaeological evidence suggests that humans have lived in the Verde Valley for at least 10,000 years. The ruins of several prehistoric dwellings are scattered in and around the rim of the Well. Their erstwhile inhabitants belonged to several indigenous American cultures that are believed to have occupied the Verde Valley between 700 and 1425 CE, the foremost of which being a cultural group archaeologists have termed the Southern Sinagua.
The Yavapai people consider the Well a deeply sacred site, as they believe it is the place through which they emerged into the world.
Montezuma Well
Verde Valley, Yavapai County, Arizona
part of the Montezuma Castle National Monument
snippets from Wikipedia: Montezuma Well is a natural limestone sinkhole through which some 1,500,000 US gallons of water emerge each day from an underground spring. The Well measures 386 feet (118 m) in diameter from rim to rim and contains a near-constant volume of spring water even in times of severe drought, amounting to approximately 15,000,000 US gallons. As with Montezuma Castle, the label "Montezuma" is a misnomer: the Aztec emperor Montezuma had no connection to the site or the early indigenous peoples that occupied the area.
Archaeological evidence suggests that humans have lived in the Verde Valley for at least 10,000 years. The ruins of several prehistoric dwellings are scattered in and around the rim of the Well. Their erstwhile inhabitants belonged to several indigenous American cultures that are believed to have occupied the Verde Valley between 700 and 1425 CE, the foremost of which being a cultural group archaeologists have termed the Southern Sinagua.
The Yavapai people consider the Well a deeply sacred site, as they believe it is the place through which they emerged into the world.