PRE-COLUMBIAN
HISTORICAL-SITE PANORAMAS
Canyon de Chelly, Homolovi, Newspaper Rock, Tuzigoot, Valley of Fires, Wupatki
Pre-Columbian / 16th-18th Century / 19th Century / 20th Century
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CANYON DE CHELLY NATIONAL MONUMENT, ARIZONA
In addition to protecting several ancient cliff dwellings and a wealth of rock art, Canyon de Chelly is also spectacularly beautiful. Click here to see some of the landscape panoramas that Martha made there.
The first example of rock art shown below is not technically “pre-Columbian,” since it portrays the arrival of the first Spanish invaders into this canyon. It is significant, however, as one of the first cave-art illustrations — or maybe the first — by Native Americans of those who would eventually take over their homeland.
This remarkable national monument is located on Navajo tribal land.
HOMOLOVI STATE PARK, ARIZONA
Homolovi is a Hopi word meaning “place of the little hills.” It’s accented on the second syllable: Ho-MO-Lo-Vie. The Hopis’ tribal lands are located just north of this park. For many years before the state protected it, the Hopi ruins shown here and others nearby were damaged by “pot collectors.”
NEWSPAPER ROCK STATE HISTORICAL MONUMENT, UTAH
This boulder showcases one of America’s largest collection of petroglyphs. Martha chose to photograph it close up, in sections… and the samples shown here are not all of it. The remarkable rock stands in a protected area near Canyonlands National Park, south of Moab and north of Monticello.
TUZIGOOT NATIONAL MONUMENT, ARIZONA
1,000 years ago, Tuzigoot was a bustling 110-room hilltop pueblo above today’s Verde River, in the beautiful Verde Valley. The Sinagua — “Without Water” — people who lived there were the ancestors of modern-day southwestern tribes. Per the National Park Service website, “Tuzigoot is the anglicization of an Apache phrase that’s usually translated as ‘crooked water’.”
VALLEY OF FIRE STATE PARK, NEVADA
Martha made these images of a large, flat rock covered with pre-Columbian petroglyphs in a tucked-away canyon well off the main road through this amazing state park. She was looking for Bighorn Sheep and found them right next to this rock. It was a serendipitous photographic two-fer!
- See Martha’s photos of Bighorn Sheep beside this rock at bottom of that page
- See Martha’s landscape photos from the park at bottom of that page
WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT, ARIZONA
(See the separate section below.)
WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT, ARIZONA
(Fills this entire section.)
northwestern Arizona, near Flagstaff
Wupatki’s original settlement contained several distinct communities whose Sinagua — “without water” — residents enjoyed great views of what are now known as the San Francisco Peaks, near today’s Flagstaff.
The images above and below show Box Canyon Ruin, Lomaki Ruin, and Wukoki/Wupatki Ruin. According to the National Park Service website, Lomaki means “beautiful house” in the Hopi language, and Wukoki means “tall house.” A “box canyon” is one that has a single access for entrance and exit. It seems the name “Wukoki” gradually gave way to the name “Wupatki,” which means the same thing.
According to the National Park Service website: “the Sinagua were a resilient, resourceful, and culturally diverse people who inhabited the forests, canyons, grasslands, and deserts of central and northern Arizona from about A.D. 600 through A.D. 1450. The Sinagua created a unique cultural pattern during the more than eight centuries of their existence, adapting in particular to the eruption of the Sunset Crater volcano around A.D. 1064. Click here to see some of Martha’s 2019 photos from Sunset Crater National Monument (which, sad to say, burned completely in a 2022 wildfire).
Box Canyon Ruin
Lomaki (“Beautiful House”) Pueblo Ruin
Wukoki/Wupatki (“Tall House”) Pueblo Ruin
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- Pre-Columbian / 16th-18th Century / 19th Century / 20th Century