Montezuma Castle National Monument

Montezuma Castle National Monument is a national monument at the site of Montezuma Castle, a historic Native American cliff dwelling in Verde Valley, Arizona. Erroneously named after Aztec emperor Montezuma II, the five-story, twenty-room Montezuma Castle is an intricate living space built into the limestone cliffs above Beaver Creek. It was inhabited by the Sinagua people between 1200 and 1400 CE. Archaeologists believe that the Sinagua lived at the Montezuma Castle site until leaving for unknown reasons between 1400 and 1450. Early white settlers who were under the mistaken belief that the region had once been part of Aztec territory later named the site Montezuma Castle in the nineteenth century. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt designated Montezuma Castle and nearby Montezuma Well as two of the United States' first national monuments. Since that time, Montezuma Castle has been a popular tourist destination that attracts approximately 350,000 visitors every year.

Background

Montezuma Castle is found in Arizona's Verde Valley along the banks of Beaver Creek, which is a tributary of the Verde River. Over time, the Verde Valley has been home to several Native American communities. While surviving archeological evidence definitively proves that the region has been inhabited for about two thousand years, it is likely that early Native American peoples were living there from an even earlier age. The region's earliest known inhabitants were the Hohokam, who lived primarily around the area that makes up modern-day Phoenix. The Hohokam first appeared in the region around 600 CE and stayed until roughly 1100 CE. They were followed by the Sinagua, who migrated into the Verde Valley from the north.

During their time in the Verde Valley, the Sinagua built many large apartment building–like complexes, including Montezuma Well, Tuzigoot, and the cliff dwellings near Sedona and Walnut Canyon. The most notable of these structures, however, was Montezuma Castle, which the Sinagua built and occupied between 1200 and 1400. The end of the Sinagua's habitation of Montezuma Castle and the Verde Valley coincided with a widespread collapse of all major Native American civilizations in the Southwest. This collapse, which took place between 1400 and 1450, led to the disappearance of the Sinagua, Hohokam, Salado, Mogollon, and Anasazi peoples. Experts have been unable to identify a clear explanation of why such a sudden collapse occurred, but they have pointed to possibilities such as disease, drought, agricultural failure, and war.

Montezuma Castle and the surrounding area subsequently remained vacant until people of European descent began to arrive in the Verde Valley several centuries later. After the United States took possession of a large portion of the Southwest that now comprises Arizona, New Mexico, and California following the Mexican War in the 1840s, American soldiers started moving into the Verde Valley. Familiar with the Aztec civilization because of the notable Mexican War battle fought in the one-time Aztec capital of Mexico City, the soldiers incorrectly believed that the unique cliff dwelling structure in the Verde Valley was Aztec in origin. As a result, they called it Montezuma Castle.

Overview

The main portion of Montezuma Castle sits in an alcove about 100 feet (30 meters) above the Beaver Creek Canyon floor. It is a five-story structure that includes twenty rooms. The structure's walls are made of stones held together by a type of mud-and-clay-based mortar. Interior and exterior walls alike are covered in an approximately 1-inch (2.5-centimter) thick layer of plaster-like mud that creates a smooth surface and helps ensure that critical load-bearing components are protected from damage due to weathering. The floors in each compartment are built in layers for maximum support. The lowest layer consists of a series of large logs spaced about 3 to 4 feet (0.9 to 1.2 meters) apart. Smaller logs laid crosswise over the large logs make up the second layer. The third layer is a mat of grasses, bark, and small branches. Atop that is a final layer of 3 to 4 inches (7.6 to 10.2 centimeters) of mud and clay.

A secondary structure called Castle A is located just a few yards west of the main castle. Castle A was originally another five-story structure that was built up from the canyon floor. None of the living spaces have survived, however. The only remaining remnants of Castle A are the sockets that were carved into the face of the cliff and a number of reconstructed ruins.

Although the American government had been aware of Montezuma Castle's existence since at least the mid-nineteenth century, the site was neglected and largely abandoned. The only people who visited the castle were those seeking to plunder potentially valuable artifacts. Steps to preserve Montezuma Castle were finally taken when Theodore Roosevelt declared the site—along with Montezuma Well, which is a spring located at the bottom of a nearby limestone sinkhole—a national monument in 1906. In fact, Montezuma Castle was one of the first historic locations ever to be granted that designation. Slightly more than twenty years later, the National Park Service began a project to repair damage caused by looters and to protect the remaining ruins from further harm.

For many years, visitors to Montezuma Castle National Monument were allowed to climb a series of ladders to tour the main structure's interior. This practice was discontinued in 1951 after the increased foot traffic of thousands of tourists began to cause damage to the structure. Today, access to the castle's interior is restricted to official use only. To give visitors an idea of what the inside of the castle looks like, monument officials created a diorama of the interior that can be found along the paved path below the cliffs. In addition to the main structure and Castle A, Montezuma Castle National Monument offers other attractions for visitors to enjoy. These include a trail with spectacular views of the castle structure, a museum of artifacts, a visitor's center, and a bookstore. Visitors also can take a short trip to Montezuma Well National Monument, which is only 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) away, and the Tuzigoot National Monument, which features a Sinagua pueblo built along a ridge.

Bibliography

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"Montezuma Castle: History & Culture." National Park Service, www.nps.gov/moca/learn/historyculture/index.htm. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

"Montezuma Castle National Monument." Grand Canyon Trust, www.grandcanyontrust.org/montezuma-castle-national-monument. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

"Montezuma Castle National Monument." National Park Foundation, www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/montezuma-castle-national-monument. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

Nugent, Chuck. "Montezuma Castle: History of a Pre-Columbian Cliff Dwelling." Owlcation, 15 May 2016, 1. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

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