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The canyon contains hundreds of Petroglyphs and
Pictographs. The distinction; pictographs are painted on the rock
face, petroglyphs are scratched into the rock. Both the Anasazi and the
Navajo cultures left both forms. |
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The canyon wall is made of De Chelly sandstone
which is about the same age as the Coconino Sandstone of the grand canyon
but De Chelly is much redder in color. The De Chelly is capped at
the rim by the Shinarump, a conglomerate of sand and gravel. |
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Our guide called this the "First Ruin" |
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"First Ruin" pictographs |
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Junction Ruin - Canyon de Chelly Monument
consists of four canyons, this ruin is at the confluence of Canyon de
Muerto and Canyon de Chelly, the two main canyons. |
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Summer farmers - families have inherited land
along the canyon bottom and return to farm it in the summers but the
winters are too cold for them to stay throughout the year. |
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Our tour guide went from ruin to ruin, never
stopping for "Kodak" moments - if you saw an interesting
formation you had to shoot it "on the fly". |
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Some of the ruins virtually blended into the
cliff face, making them hard to spot. |
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Parts of this ruin were constructed behind the
protection of the large boulder. |
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The namesake Rock Art on the ledge to the far right
and above Antelope House. There is a faint pictograph of four
antelope near the center of the frame. |
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Antelope House Ruin |
