Significance to Native Tribes
Historically, this land has a long history of being utilized and inhabited by different indigenous peoples such as the Ancestral Puebloans, Utes, Southern Paiutes and Diné (Navajo) tribes. Whether through gathering plants and herbs from the land, or in the remaining dwellings, pottery, rock art, and burial sites within the Bears Ears area, each tribe can find a deep spiritual connection to their ancestors.
“The land is our textbook. Mother Earth, she's our teacher. Where my people and ancestral Puebloans and other indigenous people have recorded their history is on the canyon walls out on the landscape where they built their dwellings. Without that we don't have any documentation. I can't go to any library. Our library is out here. And once that's gone, we'll never get it back.” - Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, Southern Ute.
Procession Panel, Bluff, UT
