Cliff pueblo ruins Montezuma Castle National Monument Arizona
Montezuma Castle National Monument protects a set of well-preserved dwellings located in Camp Verde, Arizona, which were built and used by the Sinagua people, a pre-Columbian culture closely related to the Hohokam and other indigenous peoples of the southwestern United States, between approximately AD 1100 and 1425. The main structure comprises five stories and about 20 rooms and was built over the course of three centuries. Back when this was an active settlement the dwelling were reached by a series of wooden ladders which have long rotted away and in the valley below a small but steady river provide water for drinking and crops which were grown nearby.
Several Hopi clans and Yavapai communities trace their ancestries to early immigrants from the Montezuma Castle/Beaver Creek area. Archaeological evidence proves that the Hohokam and Hakataya settled around or in the Verde Valley. Clan members periodically return to these ancestral homes for religious ceremonies.
The name is totally inaccurate as this site had nothing to do with Montezuma or the Aztecs who lived several hundred miles to the south but was coined by mid 19th century Americans ignorant of the origins of the site.
Cliff pueblo ruins Montezuma Castle National Monument Arizona
Montezuma Castle National Monument protects a set of well-preserved dwellings located in Camp Verde, Arizona, which were built and used by the Sinagua people, a pre-Columbian culture closely related to the Hohokam and other indigenous peoples of the southwestern United States, between approximately AD 1100 and 1425. The main structure comprises five stories and about 20 rooms and was built over the course of three centuries. Back when this was an active settlement the dwelling were reached by a series of wooden ladders which have long rotted away and in the valley below a small but steady river provide water for drinking and crops which were grown nearby.
Several Hopi clans and Yavapai communities trace their ancestries to early immigrants from the Montezuma Castle/Beaver Creek area. Archaeological evidence proves that the Hohokam and Hakataya settled around or in the Verde Valley. Clan members periodically return to these ancestral homes for religious ceremonies.
The name is totally inaccurate as this site had nothing to do with Montezuma or the Aztecs who lived several hundred miles to the south but was coined by mid 19th century Americans ignorant of the origins of the site.