Voices in the Canyon

By 1286, Betatakin village had grown to fill even the most precarious shelves and niches in the alcove and housed 100 to 125 people clustered into 20 to 25 households. Most remnants of the village's original 135 rooms, built of stone, wood, and clay, are still visible at this sheltered site. The Tsegi Canyon farmers came to stay and built to last. Like their Pueblo neighbors in the Mesa Verde and Chaco regions, they raised corn, beans, and squash, and supplemented their diets by hunting and plant-gathering. Their material legacy shows a surprising diversity, as they fashioned objects of utility and beauty from the wood, clay, bone, stone, and fibers close at hand and cultivated an impressive, intimate knowledge of the plants, animals, and cycles of the land.

Arizona · United States