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Nestled into a limestone recess high above the flood plain of Beaver Creek
in the Verde Valley, stands one of the best preserved and most easily accessible
cliff ruins in North America. This 5-story, 20-room cliff dwelling served
as a "high-rise apartment building" for prehistoric Sinagua Indians
more than 600 years ago. Early settlers to the area assumed that the
imposing structure was connected to the Aztec emperor Montezuma, but this
"castle" was abandoned almost a century before Montezuma was
born.
With heightened concern over vandalism of fragile southwestern prehistoric
sites, Montezuma Castle became a major factor in the nation's historic
preservation movement with its proclamation as a national monument. The
Castle was described in the December 1906 establishment proclamation as
"of the greatest ethnological and scientific interest." Acreage:
840.86, federal: 16.83, non-federal.
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