Volume 2, No. 4 (Winter 1999) -- Native American Issue

From the 8th through the 15th centuries A.D., the canyons, grasslands and mountains of the Verde River Valley of central Arizona were home to a creative and resilient people called the Sinagua. The Sinagua were part of a culture that flourished in the American Southwest long before Columbus landed.

Sinagua culture was a synthesis of borrrowed elements, adapted from surrounding ancestral Pueblo, Mogollon and Hohokam cultures. They made their living from hunting, gathering and farming. Although not known for their pottery, they were excellent weavers, using the plant fibers they gathered.

Serving as a "high-rise apartment building" for prehistoric Sinagua Indians more than 600 years ago, is the 5-story, 20-room, cliff dwelling called Montezuma Castle. Nestled into a limestone recess high above the flood plain of Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley, it is one of the best preserved cliff ruins in North America.

With heightened concern over possible vandalism of fragile southwestern prehistoric sites, Montezuma Castle became a major factor in the nation's preservation movement with its proclamation as a national monument. The castle was described in the December 1996 proclamation as of the greatest ethnological and scientific interest.

Montezuma Castle is located along the banks of Beaver Creek, a small tributary of the Verde River. The green ribbons of trees, shrubs and grasses that grow along water courses like Beaver Creek are called a riparian zones and are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, supporting a wide variety of plant and animal life.

Riparian areas have been called streams of life, providing food, water, breeding grounds, wintering habitat and migration corridors for a variety of birds and serving as a refuge for mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

The Sinaguan culture occupied this rich riparian habitat along Beaver Creek for more than 600 years, utilizing the diversity of plant and animal life to provide their livelihood. Visitors to Montezuma Castle National Monument marvel at the well-preserved Sinaguan cliff dwellings and enjoy the habitat flourishing along the banks of Beaver Creek.

At the Montezuma Well, a unit of the national monument located 11 miles from the main park, there are no entrance fees. Near the well is a self-guided loop trail one-third of a mile long and a lush, shaded picnic area.

Montezuma Well is a limestone sink formed long ago by the collapse of an immense underground cavern. More than a million gallons of water a day flow continuously, providing a verdant oasis in the midst of desert grassland. The waters of the well contain several forms of plant and animal life not found anywhere else in the world. This unique habitat may be due to the constant, large quantities of warm water that enter through underground springs, keeping the well's environment very stable.

Prehistoric Hohokam and Sinaguan cultures took advantage of this source of water, irrigating corn, beans, squash and cotton crops. The surrounding uplands provided wildlife and native plants to supplement agricultural products.

Montezuma Castle is located about 50 miles south of Flagstaff, 90 miles north of Phoenix. Visitors can reach the park by taking exit 89 off I-17 and following the signs for three miles to the visitor center parking lot. Entrance fee is $2 per person; children 16 and younger are admitted free of charge. Golden Eagle passports are honored.