Navajo Cultural Arts Program students take excursion, learn significance of Crow Canyon Historical Area

FARMINGTON, NM — Students of the Navajo Cultural Arts Program had an enriching day hiking and exploring the Crow Canyon Historical Area in Dinйtah April 24.

The students viewed the pictographs and petroglyphs. The experience was a part of the class objectives about philosophy and origins of creativity in Navajo art.

Navajo Cultural Arts Program instructor Brent Toadlena shared his teachings with the students, who left offerings and gained valuable knowledge and insight from the experience.

Situated approximately 30 miles southeast of Farmington, New Mexico, Crow Canyon is a historical site that contains Navajo ruins and rock art from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. It is located in Dinйtah, which is recognized as the traditional homeland of the Navajo people. Among the collection of Navajo petroglyphs found at the site, the Crow Canyon Petroglyphs are the most comprehensive and widely recognized. The rock art also includes earlier images from the Ancestral Puebloan civilization.

The rock walls on the south and east sides of the canyon feature hundreds of carvings depicting various animals, humans, supernatural beings, as well as objects such as corn plants and bows and arrows.