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Prehistoric life on Walhalla Plateau
If you had visited this plateau 900 years ago, you would have encountered prehistoric Indians known as the kayenta Anasazi. They are believed to be the ancestors of the present day Hopi Indians who live east of Grand Canyon.
In the winter months, the cold and snow on the rim forced them to inhabit places like the sandy delta of Unkar Creek, where they could continue to farm. During the summer, however, some of the people moved up to the rim to live in seasonal farming communities. Here they grew beans, corn and squash. They also hunted in the North Rim forests and gathered native plants for food, clothes and medicine.
Archeologists have identified more than 300 prehistoric sites on this plateau, most of them close to the rim. These ancient farmers took advantage of the warm air rising from the Canyon that provided a longer growing season here than farther back in the higher elevation, spruce-fir forests.
About 1150 A.D. these people left the Canyon, possibly because of a decline in rainfall which discouraged farming. |