Saturday, June 25, 2011

Saturday Sightseeing

We "happened" upon Montezuma in Arizona on one of our first trips there. We were staying two weeks in Sedona and took many exploring day trips. This was our first introduction to these tribes. They were the Sinaquas, an ancient Indian tribe who built the cliff dwellings about 700 years ago in the early 1300s. For unknown reasons, the Sinaqua abandoned their homes in this Verde Valley Arizona area in the 1400s. Perhaps they had over extended agricultural pressure on the land. Or perhaps there was a lengthy drought or they could have been eliminated through conflict with the Yavapai Indians that still exist today. If there were any Sinaqua survivors, they were likely absorbed into other Indian tribes to the north. 


It is considered to be one of the most preserved ancient cliff dwellings in America.


What astonishes me is that we were completely unaware of this monumental dwelling!
However, since then, we have discovered many more of these wondrous sights.







1 comment:

  1. Some days you are just very glad you decided to do some blog hopping. I saw your comment on Gill's That British Woman and decided to pop in. Always fun to find new places. I was especially happy to see this post as my husband and I discovered Montezuma's Castle 30 years ago, and returned to it two years back, and also visited Montexuma's Well that time. Fascinating place brought back some great memories. Thank you!

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