These farmers also gathered the wild plants and hunted the animals along this streamside.
Keep an eye out for animals! Bones of deer, rabbit, squirrel, snake, turtle, fish and bird were found in the cliff dwellers’ trash mounds.
—Babs Monroe
Today, this tree-lined creek provides a relaxing change from the more arid surroundings. To the prehistoric cliff dweller it meant survival.
A Neighborhood
Archeologists suggest that this was a community of friends, relatives, and neighbors. People going about their daily chores—talking about the weather and the new family next door—or inquiring into the recent death of a newborn or elderly relative.
This village grew and flourished for over 300 years. And yet, when the pilgrims stepped onto Plymouth Rock in 1620, this prehistoric community had been abandoned for over 200 years.
Montezuma Castle National Monument preserves only a few of the hundreds of similar prehistoric ruins discovered in this area.