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| Add Photo — Add Link — Add Commentary — Correct this page — Print | | Montezuma Castle National Monument in Yavapai County, Arizona — The American Mountains (Southwest) |
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The Neighborhood / Mysterious Departures
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By William Fischer, Jr., November 7, 2010 | |
| | | 1. The Neighborhood Marker | | |
Inscription.
The Neighborhood
You can see Montezuma Castle and Castle A from here. If you look closely at the Cliffside, you might spot other ledges and caves used by the Sinagua.
The Sinagua people who made their homes here may have been a closely-knit community of families and friends. Even though the trappings of civilization change over time, people’s social needs don’t. Take a moment to imagine busy villagers doing their daily chores, perhaps chatting about the weather, crops, an upcoming hunt, or a recent death in the community.
Mysteriously, the neighborhood began to break up sometime around A.D. 1400. Within 50 years, Montezuma Castle was completely deserted.
Mysterious Departures
Life must have been good. The Sinagua farmed beside Beaver Creek, and lived in their large, carefully constructed villages for 300 years. It's obvious they came to stay, and built to last - yet sometime in the 1400s, they mysteriously began to leave.
Could the reason have been disease? Drought? Overpopulation, resulting in scarce farmland and game? Invasion, or inter-group strife? The breakup of trade networks?
No one really knows why they left, or where they went - but Hopi Indian legends and lifeways suggest the Sinagua may have joined them on their mesas to the southeast.
Erected by | | | | 
By William Fischer, Jr., November 7, 2010 | |
| | | 2. Mysterious Departures Marker | | |
National Park Service.
Location. 34° 36.688′ N, 111° 50.543′ W. Marker is in Montezuma Castle National Monument, Arizona, in Yavapai County. Click for map. Marker is along the walking trail leading from the visitor center. Marker is at or near this postal address: Montezuma Castle Road, Camp Verde AZ 86322, United States of America.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, as the crow flies. Lifeline / Prehistoric Produce (within shouting distance of this marker); The People Next Door (within shouting distance of this marker); The Way Up / Construction Sequence (within shouting distance of this marker); The Community (about 300 feet away, in a direct line); Welcome to The Castle (about 400 feet away); Macaw Pen Stone? (about 700 feet away); Pecan Lane Rural Historic Landscape (approx. 2.7 miles away); Fort Verde State Historic Park (approx. 3.3 miles away). Click for a list of all markers in Montezuma Castle National Monument.
Also see . . . Montezuma Castle National Monument. (Submitted on March 14, 2011, by William Fischer, Jr. of Fort Scott, Kansas.)
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By William Fischer, Jr., November 7, 2010 | |
| | | 3. The Neighborhood Marker | | Montezuma Castle visible in upper distance | | |
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By William Fischer, Jr., November 7, 2010 | |
| | | 4. Mysterious Departures Marker | | |
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By William Fischer, Jr., November 7, 2010 | |
| | | 5. Montezuma Castle | | |
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Credits. This page originally submitted on March 13, 2011, by William Fischer, Jr. of Fort Scott, Kansas. This page has been viewed 249 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on March 14, 2011, by William Fischer, Jr. of Fort Scott, Kansas.
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