The Four Corners area reflects many cultures.  These cultures are Anasazi, Fremont and Ute predominately although you will occasionally see some Navajo, Hopi or Pueblo dwellings.  The Anasazi settled along the Colorado Plateau and Rio Grande Valley from New Mexico's Pecos River to the Muddy river on eastern Nevada. The Anasazi were primarily farmers of corn, beans and squash.

The word Anasazi is a Navajo term for "Ancient Ones".  It is said that the Hopi feel they are descendants of the Anasazi and they do not like to use the Navajo term Anasazi but rather prefer the term Ancestral Puebloan.

The primary landscape we explore consists of steep canyon walls and arid mesas along with nearby mountain ranges and alpine forests.  The average elevations these people lived at are about 6000 feet.   

The Anasazi culture has been divided into seven eras:

Basket Maker II            1-400 A.D.

Basket Maker III          400-700 A.D.

Pueblo I                         700-900 A.D.

Pueblo II                       900-1100 A.D.

Pueblo III                     1100-1300 A.D.

Pueblo IV                       1300-1700 A.D.

Pueblo V                         1700 to present

There is no Basket Maker I era.  Anytime before Basket Maker II is considered the Archaic period.

Basket Maker II (1-400 AD) - The Anasazi farmed, and lived in caves and shelters in canyon walls where they also stored food.  They lived in nuclear groups of two or three families with approximately three generations in each family group.   They hunted with atlatls and were potters, basket makers and made sashes and sandals.  Their paintings were usually red and white and can be found on canyon walls.  The paintings reflect several types of head gear, necklaces, earrings and sashes.  They depict people as broad bodied between 1 and 5 feet tall and are sometimes made with chalky white paint.  The paintings have long arms and legs, small heads and headdresses.  Hand prints are common along with anthropomorphic figures.

Basket Maker III (400-700 AD) and Early Pueblo II (around 1300 A.D.) - Pottery was introduced and the atlatl was replaced by bows and arrows.  Corn and Beans were now being grown and primitive houses were constructed in small year-round villages with religious structures called kivas.  Rock art body figures changed from trapezoid to triangular. Arms, hands and legs may be omitted from the figures and feet turned out the side.  Some figures have pointed shoulders and exaggerated long necks.  The earliest flute players evolved as stick figures walking and running and holding hands.   Duck and bird heads first appear as rock art on the walls. 

The Fremont period paralleled the Anasazi but their artifacts are usually found in the Great Basin of Western Utah.  The Fremont people were hunter gatherers, hunting deer, sheep, bison and small birds and animals.  They gathered grass, seeds, bulbs and nuts as a part of their diet.  Their pottery was plain gray ware and they also made elaborate figurines.   They lived in small shelters consisting of one extended family.  They did not have kivas.   The Fremont people lived from A.D. 500 or before and ended around A.D. 1300.

Fremont rock art is identified by broad shouldered human figures in ceremonial regalia.  These have tapered torsos, horned or elaborate head gear and are adorned with heavy dotted necklaces, large ornamental earrings or hair bobs and sashes.  Many figures hold small shields and their eyes are drawn as slits next to the top of the head.  Shields  with stripes, chevrons, dots and spirals are another form of the Fremont Rock Art.  Chins are full and rounded.  Large mountain sheep with cloven hooves and square or crescent shaped bodies are similar to those of the Anasazi.  Panels  also include snakes, centipedes and insects.  Animal tracks, wavy lines and zigzags may also be present. 

The Vernal style of Fremont Rock Art shows horns occasionally but elaborate crowns of dots in several patterns and shields for body parts are common.  Numerous large spirals and other circular motifs, mazes and pole ladders appear with anthropomorphic.  Bison, deer, elk and bear along with the animal tracks also depicted.

The Navajo culture dates no further back than A.D. 1500.  They were primarily buffalo hunters and are today the largest Indian tribe in the United States.  Their homes are called Hogan's and consist of a round dwelling built out of forked sticks.  They had small masonry structures and towns strategically situated for defense on high points of land to protect them from the Utes and Comanche's.  Navajo used wooden implements to help them grow maize, beans, pumpkins and watermelons.  Horses, goats and sheep are reported but we have only seen tracks of cattle.  Their rock art depicts ceremonial figures, beavers, eagles, birds and plants.  Another panel type we see is painting of Spanish riders on horseback.  Their art can either be pecked or painted or a combination of both techniques.  Round and rectangular heads depicted male and female figures.  Calves of the legs turned to the sides reflect direction of movement. 

In 1858 Utes raided the Navajo with horsemen carrying shields, lances, bow and arrows and guns with eagle feathers in the horses bridles.  Ute Rock Art has two styles, Early Historic and Late Historic.  Most Ute Rock Art is found on the Ute reservation in Southeast Colorado however, there is some at Newspaper Rock in East Central Utah.  Ute style has subject matter such as horses, tipi's and guns.  Early Ute began A.D. 1640 and lasted until 1830.  Their made solid pecked, stipple pecked, and incised made using stones tools. 

Sites are found in deep sand stone canyons, forested mounting slopes, beneath overhanging boulders, inside caves and on cliff faces.  Ute art has anthropomorphic with arms out to the side on foot and mounted, shield figures, body sizes are stick like to rounded and rectangular.   Males are identified on presence of phallic symbolism and female show vulvalike forms.  Horses seem to represent power.  Quadrupeds of elk, deer, bighorn sheep, bison, birds, bows and arrows, shields and lances, horse tack, hand prints and animal tracks are found in their rock art.

Late Historic Ute Art shows influence of Euro-American art tradition of controlled compassion, realism, and naturalism.  They have decorated shields, shield figures, horses equestrians, tipi's, bear, Trees and animal tracks.  Most sites are crowded and other styles of rock art appear.  Themes of late Historic Ute are male prestige, individualism, aggression along with ceremonialism and it showed long trailing headdresses and elaborate dress.  Feathers are shown on shields along with power symbols for the warrior.  Petroglyphs from the late 1800's show figures wearing top hats.  Colors are shown at some sites in yellow and red.  Another design has bow legged figures or figures wearing chaps and some times pelts of animals.

 These are a few of the things you will see on the tours we conduct.

If you are interested in learning more about these cultures, please check out our Reading List!!!