Anasazi Heritage Center, located in Dolores, Colorado, is an archaeological museum of Native American pueblo and hunter-gatherer cultures. Two 12th-century archaeological sites,[1] the Escalante and Dominguez Pueblos,[2] at the center were once home to Ancient Pueblo Peoples.[3] The museum's permanent and special exhibits display some of its the 3 million artifacts and information it owns of native pueblo and other regional native people. The center offers a research library, educational resources and museum shop. Wheelchair-accessible facilities include a picnic area and nature trail.[1]
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While other native peoples were hunters and gatherers, pueblo people resided in permanent communities called pueblos and grew their own crops. The Ancient Pueblo people may have lived in the Four Corners area as early as 1500 BC. As many as 20,000 people may have lived and farmed in the Montezuma County, Colorado area. Each person required about one acre of land for up to 40 harvested bushels of corn per year. Other sources of food were obtained through gathering wild plants, like berries and piñon nuts, growth of beans and squash and hunting. The area was affected by periods of drought, including one in the late 1200s. That and other factors resulted in the permanent move by 1300 AD of area pueblo people south to present-day New Mexico and Arizona. Anasazi, a term commonly attributed to ancient pueblo people, has been used since its publication in the 1930s. The Navajo word does not represent specific tribes but means enemy or outsider. The term is disliked by the modern Pueblo people who hold their ancient ancestors sacred and celebrated through spiritual rituals and journeys.[4]
The Escalante and Dominguez Pueblos, located next to the Heritage Center, were homes of Ancient Pueblo people[3] three times.[5] Escalante Pueblo was constructed approximately 1120 to 1130 AD and made of groupings of stone walled family and communal rooms, including kivas. The architecture is like that of the Chaco Canyon in present-day New Mexico.[3] The pueblo was also occupied about 1150 AD and again 1200 AD.[5]
Near the Escalante Pueblo is the Dominguez Pueblo, an example of independent family homes outside the main pueblo. Discovered at the site were items that shed light on how the people may have lived, including "6,900 turquoise, jet and shell beads; a shell and turquoise frog pendant and mosaics, two fine ceramic vessels, six bone scrapers, a woven mat and many other items."[3]
The Pueblos are named for the Spanish Franciscan friars, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, who recorded the ancient archaeological sites during the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition in 1776.[5]
The Bureau of Land Management owns and manages the museum and facilities. The Heritage Center, in operation since 1988,[1] is also the visitor center for the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.[6] The Canyonlands Natural History Association owns and manages the Anasazi Heritage Center museum shop.[1]
| Pleasant View | San Juan National Forest | San Juan National Forest, Rico, Telluride | ||
| Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Lowry Pueblo | San Juan National Forest | |||
| Anasazi Heritage Center | ||||
| Towaoc, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Reservation, Hovenweep National Monument | Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez Culture Center, Mesa Verde National Park, Ute Mountain Tribal Park | Dolores, Durango |
Other neighboring Ancient Pueblo sites in Colorado
Other cultures in the Four Corners region
Early American cultures
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