Montezuma Castle National Monument Tuzigoot National Monument
Duration: 3 to 4 hours
Montezuma Castle National Monument is an archeological site in southwestern Utah, United States. It was designated a National Monument in 1933 and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The site consists of three major stone structures on a sandstone plateau above Oak Creek Canyon with multiple miles of cliff dwellings and pictographs dating back to the 1200s AD.
Montezuma Castle is unique among prehistoric sites in the American Southwest because it contains such a wide variety of sites: rock art (pictographs), cliff dwellings, rare plants, and ceramics. It is also the only site in the American Southwest to contain a large and well-preserved cliff dwelling.
The most prominent feature of Montezuma Castle National Monument is Montezuma's Castle, located in the center of the monument. Constructed over a period of several hundred years by the Ancestral Pueblo people, it consists of a large mesa and smaller ridges, with a series of walls attached to them. Inside the castle are many chambers and tunnels, as well as other complex features.
Cliff dwellings are rock-cut rooms or rooms built into caves or tuff beds along cliff faces - they can be found at Montezuma Castle as well as throughout Utah's Canyonlands area.
Montezuma Castle National Monument is the only place in the world where you can see three of the four components of archeology in action: rock art, cliff dwellings, and ceramics.
Montezuma Castle National Monument has been a significant part of American history due to its age, what it contains and its importance to the Southwest region. The monument is known as one of the oldest areas settled by humans in North America and also contains rare flora and fauna. The surrounding area is home to many animal species that are found nowhere else on earth, such as desert bighorn sheep and golden eagles.
