Canyon de Chelly National Monument is comprised entirely of Navajo tribal trust land with a resident community within the canyons. A backcountry permit and authorized guide are required to enter the canyon except for the White House Trail.
One of the Southwest’s most popular and dramatic sites, Canyon de Chelly preserves the ancient history of the Anasazi and the contemporary culture of the Navajo. Here, ruins of elaborate stone villages tucked into cliff-side alcoves testify to a thousand years of habitation by the Anasazi. Today it is home to the Navajo.
Canyon de Chelly was designated a national monument in 1931 to protect and preserve the numerous archeological resources long known to exist here on the canyon rims, walls and bottomlands. Thanks to an arid climate and the shelter of numerous caves and overhangs, an unusual variety of delicate artifacts and organic remains has been preserved.
These sites exhibit more than 1500 years of human occupation containing early pithouses, cliff dwellings, and more contemporary Navajo hogans established long after the original inhabitants — the Anasazi — abandoned the area around 1200 A.D. There are also numerous petroglyphs and rock drawings throughout the lengths of Canyon de Chelly. Canyon de Chelly today is an 84,000-acre archeological sanctuary administered jointly by the National Park Service and the Navajo Nation. At Canyon de Chelly, archeologists can observe the transition of prehistoric Anasazi to historic Pueblo, as well as Navajo history and modern life. There are still many unexcavated sites here available for future study.
Exactly when Europeans first became aware of this area is uncertain, but a 1776 Spanish map includes the location of Canyon de Chelly. By 1800, Spanish troops had entered the region, not to collect antiquities, but to subjugate the Navajo Indians. Evidence of this event is seen on pictographs within the canyon.
Later, American military explorations and war campaigns against the Navajo sometimes included men with scientific training assigned to gather information. In 1849, Lieutenant James H. Simpson of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, recorded several of the archeological sites in the canyon, including one he called Casa Blanca (White House) because of a white-plastered room in its upper portion. He also noted similarities between the construction methods used in this region and those used in the ruined pueblos of Chaco Canyon only 75 miles to the east, which he had previously visited.
Ever since then, Canyon de Chelly has been subjected to a disparate procession of exploitations and explorations, from individual and institutional pot-hunting raids, to legitimate, extensive archeological survey and excavation projects.
Vegetation within Canyon de Chelly is almost entirely within the Transition Zone, ranging from desert grassland in the area of Chinle Wash, to evergreen forest on the Defiance Plateau and Chuska Range. Native plants of the canyon include Yucca, Opuntia Cactus and Grama Grass, in addition to selected small stands of Utah Juniper and Mexican Pine. As the archeological records shows, Yucca fiber was important to prehistoric peoples for making cords, sandals and baskets. Pinyon nuts were a staple fall and winter food for cliff dwellers and modern Navajo alike. Contemporary animals of the canyon include Coyote, Kit Fox, Mountain Lion, Black Bear, Bobcat, Raccoon, Badger, Jackrabbit and Cottontail, as well as squirrels chipmunks and gophers. Evidence of most of these creatures is present in archeological sites dating to the beginning of the Christian era.
