Searching for Sustenance

People have been living in Bryce Canyon for over 10,000 years. Spearpoints and arrowheads, grinding stones, pottery shards, baskets, and oral histories of indigenous cultures—Paleo Indians, Fremont, and Ancestral Puebloan—tell the story of their lives. Today, many tribes, including Hopi, Ute, Zuni, and others, have traditional ties to this land. The Southern Paiute people live closest to Bryce Canyon and migrated seasonally, building shelters such as kahns for protection from the sun, wind, and cold. Today they live in modern structures, but still move seasonally through their homelands to gather, hunt, fish, and maintain their connection to the land, while passing their traditional identity, language, and knowledge to future generations. They gather edible berries such as manzanita, serviceberry, and chokeberry; use Oregon grape for medicine and dyes; use ponderosa and other pines to construct kahns and other shelters; gather and roast ricegrass and other grass seeds for cereal grains; make willow baskets sealed with pine resin as water jugs; and use rabbits, deer, mountain sheep, and other animals for food and hides for clothing, tools, and crafts.

Tropic, Utah · United States