Thousand+ Year Old HAND-CARVED CAVES - Ancient Arizona

April 29th, 2023: This spot has been on my list for quite some time, but I've been waiting for warm weather to brave the chilly waters of the Verde. Today finally provided me that chance, with daytime temperatures in the 90s for the Verde Valley - the hottest day of the year so far. And, floodwaters from spring snowmelt have subsided, making for a beautifully tame and relatively clear, blue-green Verde River.
The Sinagua Indians inhabited the Verde Valley more than a thousand years ago and created a large and robust agrarian society. This society built a variety of huge, complex structures, many of which still stand today (see Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot). The Sinagua also had an extensive trade network with far-away cultures, and made intriguing artwork.
The hand-carved caves on the lower (southeastern) side of the Verde Valley are known as the Mindeleff Cavates. Cosmos Mindeleff actually coined the term "cavates" in the late 1800s to distinguish these hand-carved cliff dwellings with the more common cliff dwellings of the American Southwest. The cavates here in the Verde Valley once had stone masonry front walls, something that Mindeleff actually photographed more than a century ago. These stone masonry walls are now largely gone, and the cavates themselves are most of what remains (along with petroglyphs which I did not see, pottery shards which I did see, and the ruins of a mesa-top pueblo which I did not see).
Read Mindeleff's work here: repository.si....
The Sinagua likely abandoned these cave dwellings more than 700 years ago (roughly when they abandoned the Verde Valley entirely). Several modern Hopi clans in northeastern Arizona claim the Sinagua assimilated into Hopi culture long ago for religious reasons.
Fun fact: The Verde River water was likely 20 feet higher during the time of Sinagua settlement at this location due to a now absent network of beaver dams.
This video was shot in central Arizona's Prescott National Forest. I parked on the side of the gravel access road named Beasley Flat Road or Desert Dawn Drive.
#roamingbenji #history #archeology #arizona #desert #nature #hiking #publicland #exploring #ancient #caves #indiancountry #adventure #explore #wanderlust #outdoors #usa #america #nativeamerican #river #rocks #geology #biology #botany

[@nyesass739]

at 8:30 thats a honeybee hive in the rock, and a big one at that based off of the volume of bees going in and out

[@RonnaHarlow]

You visited some other caves several months ago, didn't you? I really enjoy your videos as I get to travel to places vicariously because of them! :)

[@roamingbenji]

I did! And that's great, thank you!

[@PenntuckytheCrag]

Very cool thx for sharing

[@roamingbenji]

Thanks for watching!

[@thehapagirl92]

That looks so cool. I wish there were spots like that in SoCal

[@aking032962]

Wow, I live in southern Arizona and I see snakes all the time. Maybe its the tine of day you are going, early morning sun or dusk snakes are usually out.

[@_natashav_]

Wow! Consider me fascinated by the Mindeleff Cavates. Very neat site and great video. I’m curious whether the beaver population in the vicinity of the Verde River is trending upward. It sounds like beavers have been reintroduced to areas of the San Pedro River, but I’m not sure if reintroduction efforts have extended to the Verde. If so, I wonder whether a re-emergence of the critter will eventually cause the Verde River to become deeper again. Anyway, just a tangential thought. Not trying to put you on the spot for answers. Stay gold, Ponyboy.

[@roamingbenji]

Consider me a beaver fanatic! I've seen evidence of beavers within the Verde watershed, and knowing how adaptive and prolific beavers are, I'm sure they're in the area here. It would not surprise me if their population was trending upward. It seems like in most places they're on the up and up. I've been up close and personal with beavers in Minnesota (and have some great footage to prove it), but have yet to see a robust semi-aquatic mammal in Arizona. As far as the San Pedro River, that is an area I would like to visit sometime. I have not spend any time in southeastern Arizona. There's lots to see there and it might make a good trip during the monsoon. Out of any place in the country, that region is probably the most affected by the North American Monsoon.

[@konazhang1025]

What if there was a black hole in the shallow river! Glad you made it I was holding my breath while waiting for your crossing!

[@johanwise9713]

Even a blackhole would be filled with water, but it is anyway clearly visible about his multidimensional vortices.

[@johanwise9713]

Great documentation! Are you sure about the "indian" builders? This site is similar to thousands of places all around the world - propably remains of underground cities. The huge part in the middle is just gone. The arrangement with small secondary rooms is similar as elsewhere, but the bed- like details and the lots of little niches, which we see in europe ones, are missing here. Some were used later as chapels, tombs and necropoles - it seems, here happened neither.

[@travisp224]

Benji!

[@DeeFreeman-td5hv]

Could you imagine what you would see if the sand was clear from inside that place

[@johanwise9713]

I try to imagine how it would look without all the soil and gravel at all places Ive been, even today by an epic location in europe. Imagine the whole turkey is naked - the common history would get obsolete immediately 😂

[@MrNedsaabdickerson]

I lived in Arizona for about 12 years and I have seen about three snakes per year that is about 36 snakes at least!

[@bhg123ful]

I think a lot of snakes have a narrow range of temps that they tolerate. Below 70 the go into underground crannies, as they can't move much at that temperature and would be vulnerable to being preyed upon. About 90, it gets too hot, and they take shelter. 95 at the most. At that point they overheat and can did so they go underground. 80s are ideal for most snakes.

[@johanwise9713]

Exactly, so it may be helpful to look for them at the best time at morning and evening.

[@yajun19johnson]

Nice looking cave rooms 😂