Sinagua dwellings   The Sinagua were only one of the peoples that lived in Arizona centuries before the Europeans started to explore the American continent. They were the contemporaries of people like the Hohokam and the Anasazi who also lived in this region. Presence of the Sinagua in this area has been from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1400. These pictures were taken in January 1995 during visits to Walnut Canyon National Monument and to Montezuma Castle National Monument. Walnut Canyon is one of the places where the Sinagua lived. This picture was taken close to the canyon rim with a view on the San Francisco peaks in the background. It was on the canyon rims that the Sinagua had their farmlands, whilst they built most of their homes in the canyon walls. This picture gives a good impression of the steepness of the canyon walls where the Sinagua built their homes. Imagine living here with nothing but a narrow footpath between your doorstep and a near vertical drop. A cliff dwelling underneath a rock overhang in Walnut Canyon. The dwellings in this canyon were built around A.D. 1200 when the Sinagua culture was at its peak. They have been in use for some 150 years until the Sinagua deserted the canyon. Much further to the south, in the Verde Valley, the Sinagua built this pueblo in a natural cliff recess, around A.D. 1125, after the Hohokam had left the area. Early European visitors mistook the 20-room dwelling for being of Aztecan origin, and gave it the name Montezuma Castle. It is the smaller of two dwellings, built close to each other, but only this structure has withstood the centuries relatively undamaged. This natural phenomenon, Montezuma Well, is found about ten kilometers north-east of Montezuma Castle. From origin it was a large cavern with underground springs. Long ago the cavern collapsed and formed this recessed lake in the otherwise desert-like country. The Sinagua and before them the Hohokam lived here and used the lake's water for irrigation purposes.

Bugs in the Netscape 6 browser distort most pages of this site. If this annoys you, use Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator/Navigator or Opera instead. © All material on this site is owned by Berend Meijer. You are not allowed to copy any of the text, images, music, sounds, scripts or other contents unless you get his permission first. You are also not allowed to use any of the text, images, music, sounds, scripts or other contents outside the context of this site.