Ancestral Homelands
Glen Canyon is part of the ancestral homelands of the Ancestral Puebloans, whose descendants comprise modern-day Tribes that spread across the Four Corners Region of the Southwest. Many of these descendants maintain important cultural ties to the area, and specific places within Glen Canyon continue to be vital cultural landmarks.
Map provided by Native-land.ca depicting territories of tribes located in Glen Canyon
The oldest evidence of material culture found in Glen Canyon are Clovis and Folsom projectile points used by nomadic big game hunters in the Paleoindian period (ca. 11,500-8,050 BCE). There is significant evidence of agriculture, semi-permanent habitation or permanent habitation, and pottery production by the Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan people between 500-1300 CE. Glen Canyon represents a cultural interface zone, where Tribes were coming into contact with one another over long periods of time.
Numerous federally recognized American Indian Tribes and bands have an association and cultural affiliation with Glen Canyon. Prominent associated tribes include the Navajo Nation, Hopi, Ute Mountain Ute, San Juan Southern Paiute, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Kaibab Paiute, and Zuni, who consider the area their ancestral homelands.
When Glen Canyon Dam was completed in 1963, it inundated thousands of acres of Tribal land, as well as thousands of Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites that are deeply significant to modern tribes. As the reservoir has dropped, many of these sites have recently re-emerged and are in need of updated management.
A Field Excursion with Water and Tribes Initiative
GCI had the opportunity to lead a field excursion Water and Tribes Initiative (WTI), an organization working to elevate the role of tribes in Colorado River decision making. The purpose of the trip was to take the WTI co-facilitators into Glen Canyon so they could experience the incredible restoration taking place in the canyons and begin a conversation about engaging Colorado River Tribes in potential co-management of the expansive areas in Glen Canyon that are coming out of water.
WTI emerged in 2017 with two objectives:
- Enhance the capacity of Tribes to manage water resources and to engage in water policy and governance discussions; and
- Support sustainable water use through collaborative problem-solving.
Read WTI’s Shared Vision for the Upper Basin of the Colorado River Basin
Read about GCI’s exploration of Glen Canyon with Matt McKinney and Daryl Vigil of WTI
Additional Resources About Tribes and Glen Canyon
The Foundations of Glen Canyon Dam
Erika Marie Bsumek’s history of how the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam was built and sustained by social inequalities.
An Interview with the late Charley Bullets
Charley Bulletts–member of the Southern Paiute Consortium, the Adaptive Management Program for Glen Canyon and Grand Canyon, and the Kaibab Paiute Tribe’s Cultural Resources Director–speaks on his relationship to the past, present, and future of Glen Canyon.
Sacrilege in Dinétah: Native Encounters with Glen Canyon Dam
Sonia Dickey spotlights Indigenous encounters with Glen Canyon Dam and places Native peoples, especially the Diné, at the center of the dam story.
Glen Canyon Rising with Lyle Balenquah and Craig Childs
In a short film, Laura Brown offers a powerful visual and narrative experience that reveals the layers of human history embedded in the landscape of Glen Canyon.