So, one of the many perks of being a park ranger is that you get to do sweet things that the everyday visitor doesn't get to do while visiting your site. This one happened to be going up into Montezuma's Castle with the three park archeologists and get a personal tour around this cliff dwelling that was built around 1000 A.D. and inhabited until 1400 A.D. Needless to say, it was awesome!!! So, enjoy the photo tour of what it would have been like to be a Sinagua indian living here 600 years ago.
We have to climb ladders like the ancients would have in order to get up there. It's pretty high. I can't imagine trying to carry all the supplies to build let alone just carry water and food up and down several times a day!
I'm inside one of the cooking rooms. The archeologists are sitting and taking in the view.
So many of these doorways were for people much smaller than me. This is the roof of one of the rooms and they chopped these huge trees for supports with rock axes that are more blunt than anything we would consider an axe. That these huge beams are up here is a building miracle!
(on the left) This is looking down from the 5th floor of the Castle. (on the right) This is looking at one of the doorways we came in initially.
We have to climb ladders like the ancients would have in order to get up there. It's pretty high. I can't imagine trying to carry all the supplies to build let alone just carry water and food up and down several times a day!
I'm inside one of the cooking rooms. The archeologists are sitting and taking in the view.
So many of these doorways were for people much smaller than me. This is the roof of one of the rooms and they chopped these huge trees for supports with rock axes that are more blunt than anything we would consider an axe. That these huge beams are up here is a building miracle!
(on the left) This is looking down from the 5th floor of the Castle. (on the right) This is looking at one of the doorways we came in initially.
