Montezuma Castle National Monument-
Camp Verde, Arizona.
Spectacular, five-story cliff dwelling built by the Sinagua Indians around the 14th century.
Montezuma Castle is an imposing 20 room, 5-story structure built into a recess in a white limestone cliff about 70 feet above the ground. When first discovered, the ruins were thought to be Aztec in origin, hence the name bestowed on them by early explorers, but they are now known to belong to the Sinagua Indian peoples who farmed the surrounding land between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, before abandoning the area. The good state of preservation of the ruins is due in part to their protected location, shielded from rain and sun, and also the relatively early designation of the site as a national monument in 1906.
