The Cliff Dwellers Legends of America
by Lena Owens - OLena Art Vibrant Palette Knife and Graphic Design
Title
The Cliff Dwellers Legends of America
Artist
Lena Owens - OLena Art Vibrant Palette Knife and Graphic Design
Medium
Digital Art - Digital
Description
Inspired by Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
and Ancient Puebloans of the Southwest Cliff dwellers are people who make their homes in shallow natural caves in cliffs or under cliff overhangs. Although such dwellings have been found in many areas, including the well-known rock shelters of the Dordogne and central Pyrenees regions of southwestern France, the term cliff dwellers is usually associated with prehistoric inhabitants of cliffs in the American Southwest. The cliff dwellings are found in an area extending from southern Colorado and Utah to northwestern New Mexico and northern Arizona. They are concentrated on the Colorado Plateau, where box canyons with more or less vertical sides have been created by erosion.
These shallow caves in the recessed cliffs served as natural shelters from the wind and rain; in addition, caves facing east or south were warmed by the morning sun and cooled in the evening. Many were situated near a spring, above a river valley with arable land. Most were inaccessible from above and had to be entered by either removable ladders or by hand and foot holds cut into the cliff faces. As home sites, these cliff dwellings perched high on ledges of the canyons were virtually inaccessible to outsiders and were easily defensible against nomadic, predatory peoples.
The most spectacular cliff dwellings are the compact, masonry-walled communal habitations, or pueblos, that often completely fill the cliffs in which they are located. They were built by the Anasazi, the prehistoric ancestors of the present Pueblo Indians, and date from about a.d. 900 to about 1450. The so-called Basket Makers, the earliest known people of Anasazi culture, and various later tribes related to the Anasazi, such as the Salado and the Sinagua, are known to have occupied some of the caves, as did much earlier people.
The best known cliff dwellings have been preserved at Mesa Verde National Park, Colo.; Chaco Canyon, N.Mex.; Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Ariz.; and Yucca House National Monument, Colo.
John C. McGregor
Legends of America lenaowens, olenaart, licensing, artlicensing, Cliff, Dwellers, Legends, America, taos, pueblo, adobe,fireplace, native-american, mesa, verde, national, park, mesaverde, nativeamerican, pueblo, indian, colorado, inspiration
Cañon de Chelle, New Mexico, 1873
The Ancient Puebloans (Anasazi) were a prehistoric Native American civilization centered around the present day Four Corners area of the Southwest United States. The ancestors of the modern Pueblo peoples, including the Hopi, Zuni and the Puebloans, do not prefer the term “Anasazi.” Often referred to as the Ancient Pueblo people or Ancestral Puebloans, the modern Hopi call them “Hisatsinom” (People of Long Ago). The word “Anasazi” is Navajo for “Ancient Ones” or “Ancient Enemy.”
Archaeologists still debate when a distinct Anasazi culture emerged, but the current consensus suggests they first appeared around 1200 B.C. The Ancient Puebloans first settled in the plateau area where water was plentiful, with their initial locations at Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Kayenta. Later they spanned across the entire Colorado plateau including northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado.
Uploaded
November 16th, 2017
Statistics
Viewed 4,628 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/19/2024 at 12:15 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
Similar Images
Comments (6)
Heather McFarlane-Watson
A very interesting presentation, Lena, both the digital art and the write-up. Nice work!
Recently Viewed
