Home of the Ancients

Home of the Ancients Finest Preserved Cliff Dwelling In America Intrigues Tourists and Students Of Archaeology

By RAE ROSE KIRKHAM MONTEZUMA CASTLE National Monument is primarily archaeological. It includes 160 acres of ground containing pre-historic cliff dwellings, the most outstanding of which is Montezuma Castle. It is located in Yavapai County in the Verde Valley of Central Arizona.

On the right bank of Beaver Creek rises a perpendicular wall of cream tinted limestone. In one of its natural cavities, 75 feet above the level of the stream, is wedged this ancient ashen-pink structure about 40 feet high, over-hung by at least 30 feet of cliff. One can reach it only by a succession of ladders. The walls are built of adobe laid in brick-like fashion and secured by a cement that often shows the finger-prints of the aboriginal plasters. Doors are cut at various elevations in the walls. They are very low; probably built so for protection rather than to accommodate a pigmy people. Several smaller apertures appear in the dwelling. These may have been smoke outlets, drainage systems, ventilators, or lookout holes. The building has five stories and leans slightly toward the cliff, a method commonly used by these pre-historic builders to help sustain the walls. The first story consists of eight rooms which stretch vertically across the ledge. The ascend-

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