How did the Sinagua get water?

The Sinagua lived near today’s town of Flagstaff. The word Sinagua means “without water”. The people depended on rain, not canals to water crops.

What language did the Sinagua speak?

Unfortunately the Sinagua had no written language, leaving us to piece together why they left. Although the Sinagua left about 600 years ago, the Verde Valley has been continually occupied by other groups of people. Some Hopi clans believe that the Sinagua were their ancestors.

Who named the Sinagua?

It was named by early European settlers, who incorrectly thought the structure was related to the Aztec emperor Montezuma II (1470-1520). It was actually built by the Sinagua (Spanish for “without water”) people between 1100 and 1300, long before Montezuma was even born.

What did the Sinagua eat?

The Sinagua were primarily farmers supplementing their crops by hunting and gathering. The ancient farmers grew and ate corn, beans, and squash. The immediate surroundings augmented their diet with wild weedy plants and game such as deer, antelope, rabbit, bear, muskrat, turtle, and duck.

What was the Sinagua culture?

The Sinagua were a pre-Columbian culture that occupied a large area in central Arizona from the Little Colorado River, near Flagstaff, to the Verde River, near Sedona, including the Verde Valley, area around San Francisco Mountain, and significant portions of the Mogollon Rim country, between approximately 500 CE and …

When did the Sinagua disappear?

No one knows why the Sinagua left Montezuma Castle and its surrounding area. But by 1425 A.D., they were gone. Some archaeologists think they left because overpopulation depleted the local resources. Others believe the high arsenic content in their water supply led them to depart.

Where did the Sinagua people go?

Around AD 700 a branch of the Sinagua migrated below the Mogollon Rim to the Verde Valley and began living the good life next to fish-filled rivers and streams that flowed all year around; these migrants are now called the Southern Sinagua, and the ones who stayed behind are called the Northern Sinagua.

Where did the Sinagua tribe live?

northern Arizona
The Sinagua were a resilient, resourceful, and culturally diverse people who inhabited the forests, canyons, grasslands, and deserts of central and northern Arizona from about A.D. 600 through A.D. 1450.

What did the Sinagua make?

The Sinagua mostly produced undecorated pottery, often called plainware. Decorated pottery was found at [Montezuma Castle/Tuzigoot], but came from other areas in Arizona. The Sinagua traded with other ancestral groups, like the groups that lived in modern-day northern Arizona, to get it.

When did the Sinagua live?

The Sinagua were a resilient, resourceful, and culturally diverse people who inhabited the forests, canyons, grasslands, and deserts of central and northern Arizona from about A.D. 600 through A.D. 1450.