Montezuma Castle

The Montezuma Castle isn't really a castle and it is not named after the Aztec emperor Moctezuma. The Castle was inhabited a century before the Aztec ruler was born! The Castle is view of the Sinagua people and their dwellings beginning around 1125. It locates in the Verde Valley of northern Arizona near Camp Verde and Cottonwood area. These Southern Sinaguas began building  large pueblos on hilltops and in cliffs. The pueblo size reached its maximum size in the 1300's and were occupied for another century. We do not know today why the Southern Sinagua abandoned their pueblos by early 1400's.

Singua's pueblo about 100 feet above basin

The Sinagua's began building their five-story
20-room dwelling early in the 1100's. It's in a cliff
about 100 feet above the valley. There was and remains
a creek below with a reliable source of water and fertile land.

Judy and a perspective of

height of the cliff dwellers

We learn from our touring that Sinagua's built the
Tuzigoot Pueblo. You will soon see that Tuzigoot contained
at least a hundred rooms, some with second stories. The largest room
was 17 feet by 26 feet. Again water - the Verde River was the
reason for the Tuzigoot settlement. The Montezuema Castle
and Tuzigoot while not far from each other were distinctly
different in construction

Betty and Steve came down

from their home to greet the

tourists! Betty says the climb

back to the home is tougher

than coming down