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Earth Notes: Canyons of the Ancients

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwestern Colorado.
Carrie Calisay Cannon
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwestern Colorado.

At the heart of the Colorado Plateau sits the largest concentration of archaeological remnants in the United States. This nearly 200,000-acre protected area in southern Colorado is known as the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.

It holds over 6,000 recorded sites, primarily attributed to the Ancestral Puebloans who thrived in this rugged desert landscape from as early as 750 A.D. These ancient peoples, ancestors of today’s Hopi, Zuni, and other Puebloan tribes constructed intricate cliff dwellings, multi-room pueblos, kivas, rock art, and hundreds of thousands of beautifully decorated pottery vessels.

The architecture and petroglyphs reveal not only a highly developed society but also a deep spiritual connection to the land. Kivas, ceremonial circular structures, were central to community and religious life. They served as gathering spaces for rituals that honored the Earth and ancestral spirits. The designs and notches etched into canyon walls reflect stories, symbols, and insights into the relationship between humans and the natural world. Some represent animals, mythical beings, or celestial events.

Canyons of the Ancients is also a place of striking natural beauty. This sacred landscape stands as a living legacy: it’s both a memorial to ancient civilizations and a reminder of the enduring cultural heritage and spiritual traditions of American Indian tribes who continue to honor and protect their ancestral lands.

This Earth Note was written by Carrie Calisay Cannon and produced by KNAU and the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University.

Carrie Calisay Cannon is a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, and also of Oglala Lakota and German ancestry. She has a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and an M.S. in Resource Management. If you wish to connect with Carrie you will need a fast horse; by weekday she fills her days as a full-time Ethnobotanist with the Hualapai Indian Tribe of the Grand Canyon of Arizona, by weekend she is a lapidary and silversmith artist who enjoys chasing the beautiful as she creates Native southwestern turquoise jewelry.
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