Prehistoric people
There is abundant evidence that the canyon lands were inhabited by cliff dwellers centuries before the explorations of Powell or the earlier visits of the Spanish explorers and the fur trappers. Projectile points and other artifacts found in the nearby La Sal and Abajo Mountains indicate occupation by aborigines from about 3,000-2,000 B.C. to about 1 A.D. (Hunt, 1956).
Archeologists have found evidence of two occupations by prehistoric peoples in and near Canyonlands National Park—the Fremont people around 850 or 900 A.D. and the Pueblo or Anasazi people from about 1075 to their departure in the late 12th century (Jennings, 1970). Within the park, the most densely populated area was along Salt Canyon and its tributaries in the Needles district, but many prehistoric dwellings and granaries are also found just south of the park in Beef Basin and Ruin Park.
The Fremont people, who were mainly hunters, seemingly left no artifacts, but they did leave beautiful pictographs, or rock paintings, such as the group of ghostly human figures on the sandstone wall of Horseshoe Canyon ([fig. 2]), in the detached unit northwest of the park proper ([fig. 1]). The All American Man ([fig. 3]), a most unusual “Humpty Dumpty” figure painted in red, white, and blue on the wall of a cave about 3⅓ miles above the cable across the east fork of Salt Canyon, is believed to have been done in the Fremont style, but as shown in the photograph, it is next to one of three dwellings in the same cave that were built later by the Anasazi people. Tower Ruin ([fig. 4]) is one of many well-preserved granaries built by the Anasazi, who farmed the flood plains of creeks such as Salt and Horse Canyons. According to Jennings (1970),
There is some evidence that these early Utah people practiced a form of irrigation, using shallow ditches to carry water to their crops. There is also evidence that a change in climate sometime around the late 12th century brought about summer flash flooding and induced the cliff dwellers to abandon their Canyonlands homes and farms.
PICTOGRAPHS ON WALL OF HORSESHOE CANYON, believed to have been made by Fremont people about 1,000 years ago. Numbered chalkmarks 1 foot apart along bottom were made by some previous photographer. Photograph by Walter Meayers Edwards, © 1971 National Geographic Society. (Fig. 2)
THE ALL AMERICAN MAN, on wall of cave in Cedar Mesa Sandstone Member of Cutler Formation along upper Salt Canyon, believed to have been painted by Fremont people. Granary on right was built by Anasazi people. Chalk outline was added by some previous photographer. Photograph by National Park Service. (Fig. 3)
TOWER RUIN, an Anasazi granary in cave in Cedar Mesa Sandstone Member along tributary of Horse Canyon. (Fig. 4)
Visitors to the Needles district pass through Indian Creek State Park 12 miles west of U.S. Highway 163. The principal attraction, which is visible at the base of the Wingate Sandstone cliff on the right (north), is Newspaper Rock ([fig. 5]), one of the best preserved and most intriguing petroglyphs, or rock inscriptions, in the canyon lands. Many of the older cliff faces of the Wingate and Navajo Sandstones are darkened or blackened by desert varnish, a natural pigment of iron and manganese oxides. The prehistoric inhabitants of the canyon country learned that effective and enduring designs could be created simply by chiseling through the thin dark layer to reveal the buff or tan sandstone beneath. According to Jesse D. Jennings (letter of Mar. 20, 1962, to Utah Div. Parks and Recreation),
There are at least three periods of workmanship visible on the rock. The last is quite recent since it shows men mounted on horses [brought in by Spanish explorers]. These are probably less than 200 years old and are probably the work of Ute tribesmen. The others cannot be identified with any specific cultural group, although the earliest may be as much as one thousand years old and are probably the work of the so-called “Fremont” peoples * * *
In addition to the designs by the Fremont, Anasazi, and Ute artists, you will note a few names and dates as late as 1954.
NEWSPAPER ROCK, petroglyphs cut in Wingate Sandstone cliff in Indian Creek State Park. Inscriptions probably span about 1,000 years and include figures by Fremont, Anasazi, and Ute people (mounted horsemen) and by a few early white settlers. (Fig. 5)