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Ancestral Pueblo

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People who lived thousands of years ago in what is now Utah did not leave any written records that we can read now, but they left behind things that help us understand how they lived as we observe and infer. Consider some of the questions below to help you understand more about the Ancestral Pueblo.

Central Questions:

What was daily life like for someone who lived among the Ancestral Pueblo in 1200 AD?

What natural resources were especially valuable to the Ancestral Pueblo?

What can we learn about the Ancestral Pueblo and what its members valued from the things they created?

Click on each of the links below to understand more about the context of the Ancestral Pueblo Culture.

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Ancestral Pueblo Context Document

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Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum

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Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum

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Hovenweep National Monument

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Mesa Verde National Park

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Bears Ears National Monument

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These are some of the artifacts that have been uncovered in ancestral pueblos in Utah and surrounding states. These artifacts serve to inform us about the lifestyle and culture of the residents of these ancestral pueblos. Click on each source below to read about the artifact and explore the source.

Homes & Dwellings

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Square Tower

Square Tower is perched at the head of the canyon, just below Hovenweep House and Hovenweep Castle.
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Hovenweep Castle

Hovenweep Castle consists of two D-Shaped towers perched on the rim near the canyon head.
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Hovenweep House

Hovenweep House sits at the head of the canyon, just opposite Hovenweep Castle.
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Stronghold house

Stronghold House was named for its fortress-like appearance, though it is not clear whether its architects designed it or any other structures for defense.
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Escalante Pueblo

Escalante Pueblo is found on the grounds of the Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum in Southwest Colorado.
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Petroglyphs

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Solstice Panel

This rock carving, referred to as the Solstice Panel is found at Hovenweep National Monument.
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Cottonwood Panel

The Cottonwood Panel is also known as the Great Hunt Panel and is the most famous piece of rock art in Nine Mile Canyon located in Carbon and Duchesne Counties that is home to thousands of rock art sites.
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Barrier Canyon Style rock art

One of the best preserved Barrier Canyon Style rock art panels in the American Southwest is found in Canyonlands National Park. Barrier Canyon Style artwork is thought to be somewhere between 1500 and 4000 years old.
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Pictograph Panel

Pictograph panel is found in Nine Mile Canyon in Carbon County, Utah. There are thousands of pictographs and petroglyphs in the canyon ranging from Archaic to modern. The canyon itself has 10,000 years of art within it.
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Handprints from the Past

Pictograph handprints on a rock panel on the Colorado plateau. These are in a deep canyon at an ancient Anasazi site. Hundreds of unique prints can be identified.
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Stone & Cordage

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Arrowheads

Several projectile points (arrowheads) from the Bluff Great House in Bluff, Utah. Courtesy of Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum.
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Sandal

Plain weave sandal from an alcove site on Comb Ridge, west of Blanding, Utah. The sandal likely dates to the Basketmaker II period, and may be about 2000 years old. Courtesy of Bureau of Land Management, Utah and Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum
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Cordage

This piece of cordage appears to be made of light- and dark-colored dog hair. This particular piece of hair twine comes from a dry cave on Comb Ridge west of Bluff and Blanding, Utah and likely dates to the Early Basketmaker period (ca. 2000 years old, give or take a few hundred years).
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Drill

This drill was found in an open, mesa-top context on Cedar Mesa, which lies west of Blanding and south of the Bears Ears buttes.
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Knife

Shown here is a serrated blade that was documented on the surface of a mesa top site to the east of Blanding.
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Mano and Metate

This mano and metate was found in the Mesa Verde region and was used for grinding corn before it was cooked.
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Pottery

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Mesa Verde

Shown here are several vessels from the Pueblo III period. All three vessels come from an alcove site in Woodenshoe Canyon, which lies to the west of the Abajo Mountains and northwest of the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum.
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Repaired Jar

Redware pottery like this black on red repaired jar was often traded widely in the ancient southwest Puebloan societies.
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Pueblo Bowl

This Black-on-White Bowl comes from Cannonball Pueblo, the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado, USA.
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Pottery Ladle

Ancient pottery ladles, like this one found in Mesa Verde National Park were used much like ladles today. For instance, they were used to dip water from small pools that formed near the cliffs where water seeped from the sandstone.
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Ceramic Mug

This intricately decorated black-on-white ceramic mug from Mesa Verde National Park illustrates the artistic expertise of the Ancestral Pueblo people.
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This lesson can be adapted to fulfill either a Utah History Core Standard or a US History II Core Standard. Find the resources for both classes below.

7th Grade:

UT standard 1.1 Students will make evidence-based inferences about the complex ancient cultures in Utah after studying artifacts from the prehistoric era.

UT standard 1.3 Students will explain the economic activity of a prehistoric and/or historic American Indian tribal community by using basic economic concepts, including supply, demand, trade, and scarcity.

8th Grade:

U.S. I Standard 1.1 Students will analyze evidence, including artifacts and other primary sources to make evidence-based inferences about life among several American Indian nations prior to European exploration of the Americas.

Use this graphic organizer to guide students through the artifact activity.

Graphic Organizer

Instructions for Graphic Organizer

Teachers: You may need to simplify, adjust, or scaffold these instructions for students, depending on grade level/ability. This is just a general outline.

  1. Choose approximately 10 artifacts from the archive page to analyze. (you can add or remove rows from the table if you want students to look at more/fewer artifacts)

  2. In the first column, write the name of the artifact, the location of origin, and the approximate date it was found.

  3. In the next column sketch the image of the artifact.

  4. In the following 3 columns write what you observe about the artifact, what you infer about the artifact, it's origin or purpose, and what you wonder about the artifact.

  5. Answer your chosen question and describe how observations and inferences based upon the artifacts help you answer the question. Be sure to talk about the evidence in the artifacts that led you to your conclusion.

  6. Discuss your opinion with your group.