Montezuma's Castle N M. Trust me, Montezuma had nothing to do with it. Some confused early settler thought that Aztecs lived here. He/she was 1000+ miles and 200 years off the mark. Regardless, the name stuck.
The first question that pops into your mind when you look at it is 'how'd they get up there?' It's 100' above the valley floor. This plaque helps.
Actually, this was home to a mixed bag of natives from the Hohokam and Southern Sinagua cultures. It was occupied for about 300 years until 1400, when for unknown reasons, they boogied on down the trail to places unknown.
Montezuma Well N M. I guess this was named by the same idjit. It's a collapsed limestone cavern fed by underground springs that produce a tremendous volume of water. The natives dug mile-long canals from this sink to irrigate their crops. The water stays a constant 76 degrees year round. Note the cliff dwellings in the upper left corner. The well is similar in nature to the cenotes of the Yucatan but in this case, the surfacing water was caused by erosion rather than a humongous asteroid.
Tuzigoot N M was our last stop. The word means 'crooked water' in Apache. It's a hilltop pueblo that had 77 ground floor rooms and numerous upper story rooms - how numerous we don't know because the ground floor is all that remains. I didn't take any pix cuz I couldn't find a good angle to capture the thing. Here's a link with pix: http://www.nps.gov/tuzi/index.htm
Can't imagine carrying the bags of groceries up those ladders. In 110 degree heat.
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