Humans have occupied the labyrinth known as Canyon de Chelly (d’SHAY) – including Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto – since the Archaic period dating to 2500 BC. People have continuously lived here longer than anywhere else on the Colorado Plateau. We know this from petroglyphs, pictographs, pottery, weavings, corn cobs and peach pits left behind.
At about the same time Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza was completed and before the great Toltec culture emerged in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, the earliest people here were seasonal campers huddled under rock shelters. They ate deer, antelope and rabbit, and foraged on more than 40 varieties of plants.
Check out this short slide show…..