A day full of amazing Sinagua cliff dwellings and petroglyphs in Central Arizona.
The Sinagua people made a lasting impression on Central to Northern Arizona. Their dwellings can be found in multiple National Monuments today. I have already visited Sinagua ruins in Wupatki National Monument and Walnut Canyon National Monument. Now to explore four more Sinagua sites.
First stop of the day was at Montezuma Well (part of Montezuma Castle National Monument) not far off of I-17, the main route between Phoenix and Flagstaff, Arizona. Montezuma Well is a natural limestone sinkhole with year-round water. An underground spring feeds the well, which is also by a creek, making it a perfect place to set up a home. (Unfortunately, the Sinagua might have not known about the arsenic in the spring water. The nearby creek water is fine.) The Well fed canals that were crucial for irrigating the dry landscape.
Montezuma Well. Arizona
Sinagua cliff dwelling. They moved into the area around 700 CE to 1425.
The cliff dwelling perched above Montezuma Well.
Next stop was the V-Bar-V Heritage Site not far away in the Coconino National Forest. Here you can find one of the largest known petroglyph sites in Arizona.
It doesn’t look like it, but this is actually a calendar.
There are 1,032 individual rock carvings here created by the Sinagua people between about 1150 and 1400 CE. The carvings are of animals, including snakes, turtles, coyotes, deer and antelope. Other shapes are human-like figures and geometric figures.
As the seasons change, the afternoon sun hits different figures, which helped the Sinagua people tell the time of the year, very useful for planting.
A close-up on some of the petroglyphs. You can make out a lot of geometric shapes here with human-like figures as well. The lower portion was rubbed off by cattle who like to scratch themselves along the rocks. The rangers later built a barrier to protect the petroglyphs.
More animal figures in this section, probably birds and coyotes.
Now to the main section of Montezuma Castle National Monument. Montezuma Castle is a large cliff dwelling perched high above the valley floor. Neither part of its name is correct. Neither is it a castle nor did it have anything to do with the Aztec leader Montezuma. The incorrect name dates back to the 1860s.
Montezuma Castle perched on the cliff side. That would have been a serious climb to get up there.
The cliff dwelling is 90 ft (27 m) above the valley floor. It’s one of the best-preserved cliff dwellings in the United States. Not only was it preserved from the elements from the natural alcove it was in, it’s also basically impossible to get to. The dwelling is huge. It has 5 floors and 4,000 square ft (370 m²) of living space. The high location of the dwelling protected them from outsiders and the regular flooding of the nearby Beaver Creek during the annual monsoon season.
Montezuma Castle is really impressive to say the least.
The area was settled by the Sinagua around 1125. Construction may have begun around this time. The dwelling was not built all at once but added on to generation after generation. It could have housed between 30 and 50 people. The Sinagua left around 1425.
The final stop of the day was Tuzigoot National Monument. The monument preserves a 2-3 story pueblo ruin. The pueblo is an elongated set of stone masonry ruins that were built along an outcrop that sits above the Verde Valley, a great place for farming.
The Tuzigoot pueblo is located in a really prominent spot, with the Verde River below.
The pueblo was built by the Sinagua people between 1125 and 1400. With over 100 rooms, Tuzigoot is the largest and best preserved of the many Sinagua pueblos in the Verde Valley. The pueblo rooms were actually accessed by trap doors in the roofs instead of doorways.
The rooms were very close together. Most of the light may have come from the trap door in the roof.
Looking down upon the ruins from the “tower.” The green Verde valley in the distance.
Central and Northern Arizona is full of ruins by Native American peoples. As a ruin junkie, I’ve had a great time exploring the ruins in the area. If you are into ruins, Arizona is a great place to go.
Check out my next update where I do a bit of hiking in the wonderful Sedona, Arizona.
