Montezuma Castle National Monument protects a set of well-preserved dwellings located in Camp Verde, Arizona. The dwellings were built and used by the Sinagua people, a pre-Columbian culture. Several Hopi clans and Yavapai communities trace their ancestries to early immigrants from the MonteZuma Castle area.
About Montezuma Castle National Monument in brief
Montezuma Castle National Monument protects a set of well-preserved dwellings located in Camp Verde, Arizona. The dwellings 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. The main structure comprises five stories and about 45 to 60 rooms and was built over the course of three centuries. The dwelling was abandoned more than 40 years before Montezuma was born, and was not a \”castle\” in the traditional sense, but instead functioned more like a \”prehistoric high rise apartment complex\”. Several Hopi clans and Yavapai communities trace their ancestries to early immigrants from the MonteZuma Castle area. The Castle is situated about 90 feet up a sheer limestone cliff, facing the adjacent Beaver Creek, which drains into the perennial Verde River just north of CampVerde.
It is one of the best- Preserved cliff dwellings in North America, in part because of its ideal placement in a natural alcove that protects it from exposure to the elements. A neighboring segment of cliff wall suggests there was an even larger dwelling around the same time of which only the stone foundations have survived. Its discovery in 1933 revealed many artifacts and greatly increased understanding of their way of life. The latest estimated date of occupation for any Sinaguan site comes from around 1425 AD, around the time of the Castle’s abandonment. The reasons for abandonment are unclear, but possibilities include drought, clashes with the newly arrived YAVapai people, and clashes with newly arrived Hopi people.
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This page is based on the article Montezuma Castle National Monument published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 18, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
