After visiting Montezuma Well, we made our way to Montezuma Castle.
The afternoon was spectacular!
The scenery stark, but breathtaking at the same time.
To see these homes built into the cliffs was amazing
To think many years ago people lived in these cliffs.
Why did they live in the cliff face I wonder?
It may have been due to flooding, but also provided a place of safety and a good defence. Of course the view would have been pretty awesome as well! Plus because of the way they face the cliffs would have been shady in the summer and sunny in the winter.
Information boards gave interesting information on how the people may have lived.
Just look at that!
All along the cliffs were evidence of holes which would once have been windows or doors.
The colours were pretty amazing as well...
You can see this information board tells about the different levels..
A closer look.
This five story, twenty room dwelling was called a pueblo and was the home to prehistoric Sinagua people.
It was abandoned sometime after AD 1400
It is 100 feet above the valley.
Pretty amazing huh?
What's this?
Looks intriguing...
Bees!
We zoom in for a closer look.
The 'castle' is badly deteriorated but is protected and preserved as a National Monument.
Oh dear...this doesn't look good...
More information boards...
The creek was their lifeline, bringing and taking lives...they relied on it for water and food.
It looks pretty dry today!
A few more views...
A model of what it may have been like inside
One last glimpse before we make our way back to the information centre
To see such a different type of history to that of which I am used to was absolutely fascinating and so very interesting. I think it is wonderful that these things are being preserved for future generations.
History never ceases to amaze me :0)
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For some reason it never occurred to me that dwellings like this might have existed in the American continent north of Mexico. Looking at it now I wonder why. This has been a real eye-opener and a very interesting one. The only think I 'knew' about Montezuma was that he was an Aztec Emperor (and that Vivaldi wrote an opera about him!). One learns so much in Blogland and gets so many leads to follow up.
ReplyDeleteOf course this was built before Montezuma was even born so actually doesn't have anything to do with Montezuma....
DeleteFascinating history indeed!
Absolutely amazing pictures! Thanks for sharing them.
ReplyDeletevery fancy photos and interesting post
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