Montezuma Castle - A National Monument, Arizona by Homer F. Hastings - Albert H. Schroeder

Author:Homer F. Hastings - Albert H. Schroeder [Schroeder, Homer F. Hastings - Albert H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-07-31T00:00:00+00:00

Bird-shaped ornament of turquoise mosaic on seashell.

Pre-Columbian weaving with openwork design.

Child burial in floor of third-story room in Montezuma Castle.

Most weaving required the use of a loom, a rectangular vertical framework somewhat larger than the size of the finished product. Proper tension on vertical (warp) threads was maintained by lashing at the ends of the loom. Black and white patterns were known, and some red was used. The museum at Montezuma Castle exhibits some of the finest examples of prehistoric Pueblo Indian weaving.

The Sinagua Indians in the Verde Valley apparently had no formal cemeteries. Children were often buried near the dwellings or under the floor. We learn from modern Pueblo Indians that some prefer to bury a child near the home. This comes from the belief that the child’s spirit will remain until the death of the mother and can then be guided safely to the hereafter; or, that it will return in the person of the next baby to be born in the family. Occasional child burials were found in wall cavities in the pueblo ruin at Tuzigoot National Monument. Tuzigoot is a few miles northwest of Montezuma Castle and was occupied during the same general period.

Adults were buried in the refuse dump near a settlement, or placed in a cavity or under a ledge along the base of a cliff. Most bodies were buried at full length, lying on the back, and were generally accompanied by offerings or grave gifts. Pioneers reported several burials beneath floors in Montezuma Castle, and one additional burial was located in 1939. It contained the remains of a child about 5 years old, whic h had been wrapped first in a cotton blanket and then in a yucca leaf mat. The child had been buried in the corner of a room about 2 feet below the floor level. Some rooms in Montezuma Castle were built directly above others; therefore, no floor burials were possible in these upper rooms. This might explain why one shallow grave was found on a narrow ledge at the base of the building. The mummified remains of a 2-year-old child from this grave can now be seen in the museum.

The undercut graves dug into soft bedrock at Montezuma Well constitute one of the unusual features of that area. Sometimes similar individual burials are found in other Indian ruins. In contrast to most sites, including others in the Verde Valley, there is at the Well a fairly definite cemetery—an area in which these peculiar graves are concentrated.

Now, let us turn from the general story of customs and way of life to a detailed description of the Castle and the Well.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.