Anasazi Heritage Center
Ancestral Puebloan

Anasazi Heritage Center

Wikimedia Commons / McGhiever (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Location
Dolores County, Colorado
Period
Ancestral Puebloan (600–1300 CE)
State
Colorado
Tradition
Ancestral Puebloan

Overview

The Anasazi Heritage Center serves as the research, curation, and public education facility for the Bureau of Land Management's archaeological collections from the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument region. The center is built adjacent to the Escalante and Dominguez ruins, two 12th-century Ancestral Puebloan sites.

Historical significance

The center curates over three million artifacts from archaeological projects across the Four Corners region, making it one of the most significant repositories of Ancestral Puebloan material culture in the United States. The adjacent Escalante Pueblo is a well-preserved 12th-century Chacoan outlier site.

Key discoveries

  • Escalante Pueblo — a 20-room Chacoan-style great house with an associated great kiva
  • Dominguez site — a small Ancestral Puebloan pueblo with a burial containing Hohokam-style shell jewelry
  • Repository of over 3 million artifacts from BLM lands in southwestern Colorado
  • Astronomical features including a spiral petroglyph that marks solstices and equinoxes
  • Evidence of the Chacoan road system extending into the Dolores River valley

About the site

The Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores County, Colorado, is a federally operated archaeological museum and research facility built in 1988 to house the collections generated by extensive salvage archaeology in the Dolores River valley before the construction of McPhee Reservoir. The center is adjacent to two Ancestral Puebloan sites — the Escalante and Dominguez ruins — that are part of the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.

The Escalante site, constructed around 1129 CE, is a Chacoan-style great house of approximately 20 rooms with an associated great kiva. Its architectural style — core-and-veneer masonry, massive walls, and planned spatial arrangement — directly parallels the great houses of Chaco Canyon, approximately 90 miles to the south, suggesting either direct Chacoan influence or construction by people trained in the Chacoan tradition.

The Dominguez site, approximately 100 meters from Escalante, is a smaller pueblo containing a burial of particular interest: a primary interment with grave goods that include Hohokam-style shell jewelry and turquoise ornaments, indicating participation in the broad trade networks linking the Four Corners region to communities in southern Arizona and beyond.

The center's collections include more than three million artifacts from over 1,600 archaeological sites documented during the Dolores Archaeological Program — one of the most extensive archaeological salvage projects ever conducted in North America. Visitors can examine artifacts, observe working archaeologists, and visit the adjacent ruins.

Source

Content for this page is derived from the Wikipedia article on Anasazi Heritage Center and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Source: Wikipedia.

Unlimited access

Everything a full the United States report reveals

Pick any location and Aubrey pulls together 18 strands of its history, each drawn from the record:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with historic sites, battles and Native heritage plotted, and its full story era by era.
The Land
The historic sites and place names around the location, and how this land was settled and used.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back millions of years.
LiDAR Terrain
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks and old features hidden in the landscape.
Conflict & War
The battles, raids and skirmishes fought near here, across every era of American conflict.
The Civil War
The Civil War on this ground, 1861 to 1865: who held it, and the battles, camps and regiments nearby.
The Soldiers
The men who marched from here in the Civil War, named and traced where the record allows.
Native Heritage
The Native nations who held this land, mapped across time from before European contact to today.
Settlement
Who claimed and held this ground, from Indigenous homelands through the colonial powers to the United States.
The Community
How the town grew, who came, and what kind of place it became, traced through the census record.
Rivers & Rail
The rivers, canals and railroads that connected this place between 1830 and 1911.
Notable People
The people born, buried or genuinely tied to this exact place, with their stories.
Historical Maps
Historic maps of the location layered over how it looks today.
Finds & Access
Museum objects tied to the area, and the laws on searching, collecting and access here.
Literature
The old books, county histories and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Points of Interest
The most significant historic sites and landmarks near the location, and why they matter.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from first peoples to the present day.
First month just $5.99, then $11.99 a month. Unlimited locations, cancel anytime.

Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.

Start your first month for $5.99
Or see a real report first

Related research in Colorado

Colorado state history›Historic sites in Colorado›Colorado county histories›Notable people from Colorado›Indigenous heritage›Colonial-era history›

Related archaeological sites

Mesa Verde
CO · Ancestral Puebloan
Mesa Verde
Chaco Canyon
NM · Ancestral Puebloan
Chaco Canyon
Bandelier
NM · Ancestral Puebloan
Bandelier
Aztec Ruins
NM · Ancestral Puebloan
Aztec Ruins

Frequently asked about Anasazi Heritage Center

What is Anasazi Heritage Center?
The Anasazi Heritage Center serves as the research, curation, and public education facility for the Bureau of Land Management's archaeological collections from the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument region. The center is built adjacent to the Escalante and Dominguez ruins, two 12th-century Ancestral Puebloan sites.
When was Anasazi Heritage Center occupied?
Anasazi Heritage Center was occupied during the Ancestral Puebloan (600–1300 CE). The center curates over three million artifacts from archaeological projects across the Four Corners region, making it one of the most significant repositories of Ancestral Puebloan material culture in the United States.
Where is Anasazi Heritage Center located?
Anasazi Heritage Center is located in Dolores County, Colorado.
What is the significance of Anasazi Heritage Center?
The center curates over three million artifacts from archaeological projects across the Four Corners region, making it one of the most significant repositories of Ancestral Puebloan material culture in the United States. The adjacent Escalante Pueblo is a well-preserved 12th-century Chacoan outlier site.

Research a specific location

Aubrey Research surfaces documented history at the address, parcel, or coordinate level, including proximity to prehistoric and archaeological sites.

Start a free searchView a free sample report