audio by artist brian

Montezuma Castle is one of a number of well-preserved ancient dwellings in Arizona, including the Wupatki, Tonto, Walnut Canyon, and Tuzigoot National Monuments. It is probably the most spectacular; an imposing 5-storey structure built into a recess in a white stone cliff about 70 feet from the ground. When first (re)discovered it was thought that the ruins were Aztec in origin, hence the name bestowed on them, 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 National Monument: The Castle is just two miles from I-17 at the end of a side road that winds across flat scrubland and down into the valley formed by Beaver Creek