Living Delta To The Rim

by Robert Bales

Title

Living Delta To The Rim

Artist

Robert Bales

Medium

Photograph - Photo

Description

A view of the Unkar Delta of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
The broad, sandy expanse on the north bank of the Colorado River is Unkar Delta, composed of rock debris carried from the North Rim by Unkar Creek.
Archeologists today believe that Puebloan use of the site peaked around 1100 A.D., but most had migrated away just 100 years later. The original inhabitants farmed on terraces close to the river, but as their population expanded they moved onto higher talus slopes. Life was hard here, with the average life expectancy just 34 years. Buildings were often remodeled and repurposed; over the course of decades one building might be used as living space, storage space, and finally a refuse pit before being abandoned. Farmers constructed terraces that descended the delta in stair steps of irrigated fields and built small ditches to divert the waters of the creek to their crops.
In the late 1960s, archeologists excavated several of the 52 identified sites on the delta. Evidence from such excavations suggests that the population size of the people using the delta increased over time to a point where they could not farm enough food to support everyone.

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November 23rd, 2015

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