Montezuma Castle - 3

Montezuma Castle National Monument is a set of well-preserved dwellings located in Camp Verde, Arizona. These dwellings were built and used by the... more

by Hany J

Title

Montezuma Castle - 3

Artist

Hany J

Medium

Photograph - Original Photo

Description

Montezuma Castle National Monument is a set of well-preserved dwellings located in Camp Verde, Arizona. These dwellings were built and used by the Sinagua people between approximately 1100 and 1425 AD. The Sinagua people were a pre-Columbian culture closely related to the Hohokam and other indigenous peoples of the southwestern United States. The main structure comprises five stories and twenty rooms, and was built over the course of three centuries.

The monument itself encloses an area of 860 acres near the geographic center of Arizona. The dwellings and the surrounding area were declared a U.S. National Monument in December 1906 as a result of the American Antiquities Act. Montezuma Castle was added to the National Register of Historic Places in October of 1966.

The castle structure is situated about 90 feet (27 m) up a sheer limestone cliff, facing the adjacent Beaver Creek. The precariousness of the dwelling's location and its immense scale (almost 4,000 square feet of floor space across five stories) suggest that the Sinagua people were daring builders and skilled engineers. Access into the structure was only permitted by a series of portable ladders, which made it difficult for enemy tribes to penetrate the natural defense of the vertical barrier. The walls of the castle are made of early stone-and-mortar masonry, constructed almost entirely from chunks of limestone found at the base of the cliff, as well as mud and/or clay from the creek bottom. The ceilings of the rooms incorporates sectioned timbers as a kind of roof thatching, obtained primarily from the Arizona sycamore, a large hardwood tree native to the Verde Valley.

All images are taken with a Canon 5D III (full frame) and a Canon 7D II (crop frame) using a variety of Canon L-Series lenses, and Tamron and Sigma pro-line lenses; processed in RAW with ACR, PSC, Photomatix, and a variety of other imaging software.

All images are Copyright © 2018 Hany G. Jadaa; C.Chem. M.Sc. Eng.; and Copyright © 2018 Prince John Photography (the Artist). The material contained herein may not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or downloaded in any way, shape or form. All rights are reserved. Copying, altering, displaying or redistribution of any of these images without written permission from the Artist is strictly prohibited and will be prosecuted under US, Canadian, European, and Australian Copyright laws.

Image is available for purchase at higher resolution and no copyright stamps upon request. Please contact the artist directly at pjphotography@uniserve.com

Uploaded

July 31st, 2018