Montezuma Castle National Monument 2

Montezuma Castle National Monument 2

Rocks which were cleared from the farm areas were lined up to mark the

edges of small plots. Dirt was thrown over these rocks so water would

not escape when the plots were irrigated. Some of the brush was saved

for making dams to divert water from the main ditch to each of the farm

plots. Small limbs from fallen trees were fashioned into digging and

planting sticks. The fields were leveled with their stone hoes and tree

limbs were dragged over the soil in a final smoothing process.

 

[Illustration: _Yucca-fiber sandal made by prehistoric Indians of

Montezuma Castle._]

 

Finally they were ready for their planting. They had brought seeds of

food crops—corn, beans, and squash—which were planted in these plots.

Cotton was also planted. Then the water was turned onto the fields to

complete their labor.

 

During the course of their pioneering work, this small group of Indians

probably lived on the edge of the bluff above the fields and in three

small caves along the bluff bordering their ditch. Food was not lacking,

as the plants in the area provided them with many essentials. Mesquite

beans, a common staple among the Indians, were plentiful in the late

summer and autumn, as were walnuts, berries, wild gourds, and sunflower

seeds.

 

Other plants, particularly yucca, supplied necessary fibers for making

sandals, matting, cordage, baskets, and other articles. Reeds and

hardwoods were available to make bows and arrows and other wooden

implements for hunting rabbits and ducks around the Well. Hunting

parties no doubt went to the foothills for larger game such as deer.

 

At about the same time that the Hohokam were in the valley, another

group of Indians whom we call the “Sinagua,” lived in the forested

foothills to the north and east, and on the plateau above. Their small

villages were located in open areas that could be dry farmed, as they

depended on rain water for their crops. Their houses, like those of the

Hohokam, were made of poles, brush, and mud; however, they were dug into

the ground, with just a small portion of the walls and the roof

projecting above the ground level.

 

[Illustration: _Sunset Crater north of Flagstaff._]

 

Their utensils and habits were similar to those of the Hohokam, though

different in some respects. For example, in contrast to the Hohokam

practice, the Sinagua polished their plain brown pottery. Also, it is

known that after 1070, they buried their dead in an extended position

instead of cremating them as the Hohokam did. Although the Sinagua were

basically farmers like the Hohokam, at this time they depended to a

greater extent on foods they gathered and meat they hunted than they did

later.

 

About 1070, some of the Hohokam left the valley. Evidently many of these

emigrants went north to the plateau region east of present-day

Flagstaff, to plant in the moisture-conserving ash-fall area created by

the eruption of Sunset Crater in 1064. Shortly after these Hohokam

departed, many of the Sinagua moved down from the hills into the middle

of the Verde Valley. This occurred about 1125. They lived much as they

had before, but with two important changes: they adopted the Hohokam

idea of irrigation, and they began building surface houses of rock and

mud—an idea acquired from still another group, the Pueblo Indians,

farther north. These Sinagua were the people who built the stone pueblos

we find in the valley today.

 

At first they erected small settlements on well-drained ridges

overlooking their farmlands. Occasionally, also, caves were utilized for

dwellings; the first 3 or 4 rooms of Montezuma Castle were evidently

built in the 1100’s.

 

From 1125 to 1200, the settlement at Montezuma Well was increased by

groups of these Sinagua Indians who had left their homes in the

foothills to the north and east. It appears that they joined some of the

remaining Hohokam, as several customs of the latter survived up to 1400.

In this period the Sinagua also utilized caves near their fields, and

built a small pueblo on the west rim of Montezuma Well. Limestone rock

for their masonry was available on the rim of the Well, and river

boulders for foundations were taken from the creek. Mud and clay, which

they mixed for their mortar, were easily obtained along the creek.

 

[Illustration: _Ancient irrigation ditch near Montezuma Well._]

 

As the years passed, more land was put under cultivation and more

ditches were constructed. To insure adequate care of their farmland, 1-

and 2-room “farm” structures were built on the slopes above and along

the course of the main ditch. From these, the occupants were able to

view the fields while irrigating and also could divert the water from

the ditch below them whenever necessary. At their peak, the people at

Montezuma Well were farming about 60 acres, or possibly more, and their

main ditch was about 1 mile long.

 

[Illustration: _Cut-away model of Montezuma Castle._]

 

The Sinagua of the Verde generally lived in small pueblos until about

1250, at which time the center of the valley appears to have undergone a

“real estate boom.” The buildings increased in size, and many of them

were converted into forts with defensive walls, parapets, peepholes, and

sealed doorways. Since the pueblos on the north and east fringes of the

valley were abandoned in the 1200’s, it is believed that the Sinagua of

that area probably were the ones who moved in to increase the population

and size of the central villages.

 

This move to the center of the valley was probably caused by nearly a

century of almost continuous drought which began about 1200 and

culminated in an especially severe drought from 1276 to 1299.

 

Many of the Sinagua in the modern Flagstaff region to the north began to

leave their dry-farming area in the early 1200’s. They also seem to have

migrated into the Verde Valley. Since they had depended on rainfall for

their crops, it is quite possible that the drought affected their entire

area, forcing them to move down from the Flagstaff area as well as from

the northern and eastern parts of the valley. The occupants of the

central region of the valley were able to survive because of the

spring-fed streams upon which they depended for their irrigation and

water supply.

 

Such a move undoubtedly disturbed the balance of the people and the

available food in the now overcrowded central area. Considerable

friction must have arisen. The combination of too many people and not

enough farmland may have eventually caused intervillage strife over

water rights, with general population decline caused by soil exhaustion

and the reduction of other resources.

 

Montezuma Castle was built up to its present size at this time, reaching

its maximum in the 1300’s. Consolidation was also in progress at

Montezuma Well. Between 1300 and 1400, only 3 farm outlooks along that

half of the irrigation ditch nearest the Well were occupied. In this way

the area of settlement was contracted or reduced by abandonment of

outlying sites. The concentration of population around the Well implies

conflict of some sort; and, it was at this time that the large,

definitely defensive pueblo on the rim was constructed. By 1400, or

shortly thereafter, the Sinagua abandoned the Well.

 

Shortly after 1400, in fact, Montezuma Castle and the entire Verde

Valley were abandoned by the Sinagua. There is no direct evidence to

supply us with the reason for this complete exodus—a combination of

circumstances is the probable answer.

 

A possible major factor causing the Sinagua to abandon the area may have

been the Yavapai Indians whom the Spanish later encountered in the Verde

Valley. The Yavapai could have been descendents of those Hohokam who had

stayed in the valley and lived with the Sinagua between 1100 and 1400.

(Like the Hohokam, the Yavapai cremated their dead, built pole-and-brush

houses, and farmed small plots along the stream bottomlands.) If they

were descendents of the Hohokam, the Yavapai might have been the victors

in the intervillage strife that apparently occurred during the 1300’s

and forced the Sinagua to leave the valley.

 

Whatever the real reason, when the Sinagua left, they moved northeast

and it is thought they eventually joined the ancestors of the modern

Hopi Indians. Before the exodus, the Sinagua had obtained a

black-on-yellow pottery from the Hopi country, so they knew the Hopi

through their trade contacts. Oral traditions also indicate the

possibility of such a move. The modern Hopi have legends of a people

coming up from the south to join them. They say that these people were

great warriors and that they had no priests or ceremonies. Since the

Sinagua had no underground ceremonial chamber, or kiva, such as that of

the Hopi, and since we lack evidence of ceremonialism among the Sinagua,

these legends could well apply to them.

 

[Illustration: _Woven black-and-white cotton bag._]

 

Early Spanish explorers remarked on the vast amount of cotton grown and

woven by the Hopi. The Sinagua had been great cotton growers and expert

weavers while they lived in the Verde Valley. They may have been

responsible in part for such a development among the Hopi, first through

trade and later by actually joining the Hopi.

 

Whatever the fate of the Sinagua, the Yavapai were in the Verde Valley

when the Spanish reached the area in 1583. They described wild, but

peaceful and friendly Indians in the region, living in huts instead of

pueblos, planting corn, and hunting game. Similar references are made by

later explorers. Although the names given them in the old Spanish

documents are quite different, these people presumably were the Yavapai.

 

Still later, the Western Apache came into the story of the Verde Valley.

Just when they entered central Arizona is unknown; but since the 1860’s,

certain Western Apache bands ranged as far west as the Verde. Two small

caves at Montezuma Well show indications of Apache occupation, probably

after 1800.

 

 

 

 

_Sinagua Pueblo Life_

 

 

The pre-Columbian Indians of the Southwest (northern Mexico to southern

Utah and Colorado; eastern New Mexico to western Arizona) were, in

general, settled and apparently peaceful farming peoples living in

villages. The agricultural staples—corn, squash, and beans—were

supplemented by gathering wild plants and hunting game. The main hunting

weapon was the bow and arrow. Weapons and tools were made of various

kinds of stone, animal bones, and wood. Pottery and basketry were used for utensils or containers.