The Anasazi lived here for more than one thousand years but disappeared about seven hundred years ago. Their artifacts remain, richly displayed in the recesses of Grand Gulch, Slickhorn, Fish, Owl, Arch, and Mule canyons, and in so many more. Stone towers, broken pottery, dried out corn cobs, circular kivas, and the strange spiritually motivated rock art of pictographs are among the legacy they left behind. This concentration of archeological sites may be unsurpassed anywhere in the United States. The benchlands of Nokai Dome contain the camp and stone chipping sites of Anasazi as well as Archaic and Basketmaker cultures.
Lower canyons harbor dwellings and storage structures.
The Grand Gulch subcomplex holds about six hundred documented prehistoric sites, with thousands more unrecorded. To the east, the Anasazi cut stair steps into Comb Ridge. Across Comb Wash in Road Canyon surveys indicate that the area may contain more than six thousand Anasazi and Basketmaker sites, many of which are well preserved from canyon bottom to mesa top. John's Canyon holds the remains of early 1900s oil drilling and ranching. Click here to order this book and other FalconGuides online .