Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument preserves dwellings built by the ancient Puebloan people

This National Monument maintains one of the best-preserved ancient cliff dwellings in New Mexico. These dwellings were built by nomadic Puebloan people around 1276-1287 and moved on by 1300. About 40 rooms were built inside five natural caves. Artifacts found inside suggest other groups pre-dating these Puebloan people used these caves for thousands of years.

On a more recent historical note, this area located near the headwaters of the Gila River, was the birthplace of the Apache leader Goyahkla, known as Geronimo, who was born in early 1820s.