History Memes

Speaking of Native American month, when I was down in Sedona, I discovered this little place outside of it. https://skyrocksedona.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/4Montezuma.jpg They call it Montezuma's Castle, although it was neither a castle, nor did it have anything to do with the aztecs. The "Sinagua" people didn't build this as a defensive structure, they were actually farmers who subsisted off of a flood plain in the monsoon seasons. We don't actually know what they were called, as the name ascribed to them came from another tribe. The upper structure is like a community structure, and they would also bury their dead on top, which is why many of the tribes that existed in nevada after the 11th century considered the abandoned city to be a home for the dead, and would never go into it. Among the crops they produced, one of which was Cotton, which they used to weave ornaments that they traded with nearby tribes, making them one of the central trade hubs in the 11th century of Nevada. (We know this because a lot of the artifacts in their dwellings which weren't ransacked in the 18th century were from tribes as far as 100 miles away.) Eventually the Looting got so bad from tourists in the region that Rosevelt was like "Nope!" and added it to the national registry of historic landmarks. There were also some other Sinagua structures found in a nearby limestone sink hole called "Montezuma's Well." (The Sinagua were thought to be Aztecs thanks to bad 18th century archaeology.) Though most of their tools were stone, they were a copper age society, as were many in the region at the time. A volcano spread ash and soot across the fertile floodplains, so they merely moved on from the region, likely joining into nearby tribes. The place now sits on modern day Apache land. I learned all this by talking to various workers in the area for five minutes. Take an interest in something, and you too could come across as a "Well Actually" know it all.

I do actually have pictures of it, but they aren't on my camera. Just remembered they existed, so after I get them back, I'll post some in the sexy pics page.