The Grand Canyon, as it exists today, is an enormous, 277 mile-long trench carved through the landscape of Arizona by the Colorado River. It reached depths of up to 1 mile, and is as wide as 15 miles in some places. The Grand Canyon was created through the geographical changes brought about by the Laramide Orogeny, a seismic event that occurred approximately 70 million years ago and caused the formation of the Rocky Mountains. Later, around 18 million years ago, the Basin and Range Province was created and began the flow of water through the modern-day Grand Canyon area. Finally, around 6 million years ago, the Gulf of California opened up and sent a large river flowing through the area, which joined with the drainage coming from the Basin
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The Histatsinom, also known as the Ancestral Pueblo of the Basketmaker III Era, inhabited the area in and around the Grand Canyon around 500 B.C.E. These people utilized the natural troughs and levels created within the canyon to build shelters out of the mud and clay from the area. The many different kinds of rock that existed throughout the Grand Canyon would allow the Pueblos to begin constructing houses out of stone around 800 C.E., and officially begin the Pueblo period of the region. The Pueblo were able to use the volcanic rocks that existed in the bottom of the Grand Canyon to create stone tools; obsidian was used to arrowheads and crude blades, while basalt was used for hammers and axes because of its hardness. Pumice was also used in agriculture, as a way of releasing water slowly to crops to conserves water. Corn, beans, and squash were the main produce for the Pueblo. The Pueblos lived a simple, stable life until they were forced to move from the region by an unknown physical phenomenon (thought to be drought caused by climate change) in the late 1200s. Native American groups reestablished settlements a hundred years later, where they would stay until displaced by the United States Army, to Native American reservations in
The Histatsinom, also known as the Ancestral Pueblo of the Basketmaker III Era, inhabited the area in and around the Grand Canyon around 500 B.C.E. These people utilized the natural troughs and levels created within the canyon to build shelters out of the mud and clay from the area. The many different kinds of rock that existed throughout the Grand Canyon would allow the Pueblos to begin constructing houses out of stone around 800 C.E., and officially begin the Pueblo period of the region. The Pueblo were able to use the volcanic rocks that existed in the bottom of the Grand Canyon to create stone tools; obsidian was used to arrowheads and crude blades, while basalt was used for hammers and axes because of its hardness. Pumice was also used in agriculture, as a way of releasing water slowly to crops to conserves water. Corn, beans, and squash were the main produce for the Pueblo. The Pueblos lived a simple, stable life until they were forced to move from the region by an unknown physical phenomenon (thought to be drought caused by climate change) in the late 1200s. Native American groups reestablished settlements a hundred years later, where they would stay until displaced by the United States Army, to Native American reservations in