Montezuma’s Castle is a cliff dwelling located in Camp Verde, Arizona, that was once home to the Native American tribe known as the Sinagua. The Sinagua were pre-Columbian, meaning that they lived in the limestone cliff dwelling some 1,500 years ago. The name of the group itself is Spanish and means “without water”, a reference to the fact there were no natural bodies of water immediately near the dwelling. They resided in central Arizona and have been also referred to as the Western Anasazi. The cliff dwelling resembles Pueblo architecture, but placed within the side of the cliff. As a people, the Sinagua were hunter-gatherers and also practiced subsistence agriculture, meaning they grew only as much as they needed for their own families. Even though the cliff dwelling has nothing to do with Montezuma, the sixteenth century Aztec emperor, the dwelling itself is not a castle, it is a well-preserved historical dwelling that gives some insight as to how the dwellers lived 1,500 years ago.
The interior of the dwelling reveals wood beams that were used to hold up the roof. There are windows and doorways still intact as well. Many years ago when the dwelling first opened as a historical site, visitors were allowed to climb up ladders to take a peek inside, but when vandalism started to take place, the ladders were removed and the area roped off to visitors. The dwelling is accessible through a small paved hiking path at the bottom and the dwelling itself is safe, being located halfway up the cliff, which places the base of the dwelling 70 feet from the bottom of the cliff. The dwelling has 20 rooms and five stories, suggesting that a number of families lived together in this one dwelling. When the dwelling was rediscovered in the early 1900’s, then-President Theodore Roosevelt declared the dwelling to be a national monument, protected by the government and open to the public as a place of historical interest.
Directly to the lower left of the dwelling is another dwelling but now in ruins. It was probably bigger than the preserved one, but was found to have contained a number of artifacts belonging to the Sinagua people.
It is unknown why the Sinagua disappeared from the area around 1400. They may have left due to a major drought, being located in the middle of the dry desert, or through wars with the newly arrived Yavapai tribe. Some Hopis claim the be descended from the Sinagua but do not presently reside at Camp Verde.
Directions: Montezuma’s Castle is located off of I-17, heading north from Phoenix. Take exit 289, follow the signs to the park entrance.
Image Credit: Zindbar.
