Scratched Horses and Whirling Logs: A Reassessment of Navajo Rock Art In Chaco Canyon

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Chaco Canyon has long been a home for Navajo (Diné) peoples. Despite the prevalence of Navajo sites throughout the canyon and importance of this cultural landscape to contemporary Navajo communities, their history is often underappreciated in Chaco archaeology. This is especially true for the abundant Navajo rock art incised and painted onto the canyon landscape, which dates to the 18th-20th centuries. In the summer of 2021, our Binghamton University archaeological crew, working in conjunction with the National Park Service, redocumented multiple historic Navajo sites on Chacra Mesa in the southeast portion of the park. These site reassessments revealed multiple previously undocumented Navajo rock art panels, which depict an array of imagery related to the lives and beliefs of the Navajo residents of Chaco Canyon. This paper highlights the placement of Navajo rock art in the greater Chaco landscape and advocates for greater scholarly attention of these pictorial cultural resources.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2022 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology