Decorated Walls and Tree-Ring Dates South of the Bears Ears with Dr. Ben Bellorado

This presentation presents the results of the Cedar Mesa Building Murals Project, a five-year study (2013-2017) of decorated buildings at Ancestral Pueblo cliff-dwellings in southeastern Utah that were occupied in the Pueblo III period (A.D. 1150-1300). The project was focused on (1) documenting the distribution and variability of building murals in the area and to date the contexts in which these rare features occur using dendrochronological (tree-ring dating) techniques; and (2) conducting base-line documentation of at-risk cliff-dwellings and other cultural resources before they are further impacted by increased visitation, vandalization, and looting. The results of the project indicate that murals were used to express important aspects of social identities related to community, political, and religious identities on local scales in the early A.D. 1200s. After A.D. 1240, however, changes in mural styles reflect broader developments in the political and ritual systems of the larger region as the large-scale depopulation of the region began. Furthermore, the results of the project demonstrate that the Ancestral Pueblo people who made these murals used them to conceptually dress and animate their homes and other special structures in what appears to be one of the earliest examples of such behaviors in the region. The project was conducted through a partnership with the federal archaeologists at the Monticello Field Office of the BLM and the University of Arizona School of Anthropology and the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Dating.

[@cyrenne9172]

thank you for these presentations... I am grateful for the continued learning you provide.

[@miguelpaul1164]

Me too I love these webinars!!! Thank you everyone at Crow Canyon!!!

[@jackwardrop4994]

Great discussion. Reports of looting infuriate me.

[@artblauvelt7140]

Outstanding discussion. I want to get a copy of dissertation. I have been going to Grand Gulch since 1987, been there about 20 times. I learned so much about murals from your presentation. Thank you!

[@Rockhoundingcolorado]

Well, I'm in SW colorado, sitting one tons of artifacts from 62 thousand years ago.

[@brentkinley9230]

What Kind?

[@brandonwilson5311]

That "toe jog" thing is interesting. Ive seen it on paintings and pictographs and found it intriguing. Lots of idiots on alien shows claim its bigfoot - lol. The lineage thing I never thought of. It makes complete sense. its inbreeding, No offense. Trying to keep family lines of leadership. makes complete sense. I used to see it in florida with people from Haiti. Extra fingers usually. some left the extra digits and some would tie a string on them hoping they will fall off.

[@thaddsreal]

The pacing and slide rotation style don't really aid comprehension. Perhaps less of the very handsome Dr. And more of the informative slides. I'd we don't see what you have, how can we help preserve and protect this stuff.

[@taraberesh7067]

It's unfortunate that new (and conspicuous) names have been assigned to these fragile sites, and are being dispersed publicly. If ancestral sites on public lands kept confidential site number designations, it might slow their destruction. Not to mention the issue with anglo connotations prescribed to Native American sacred spaces.