Near Dolores in Montezuma County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)
The People
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 17, 2025
1. The People Marker
These people had no written history; theirs was an oral system of maintaining the records of ages.... In the mind's eye one sees the elders speak, their eyes alight, their gestures emphasizing or elaborating a point, as they reveal the ancient record of the Pueblo people.
Joe S. Sando, Jemez Pueblo
Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History
Clear Light Publishers, Santa Fe, NM
The Ancestral Puebloans of the Four Corners area included diverse groups with local styles of architecture, dress and art and a rich culture. Today's Pueblo people live in over 20 separate communities. Their language is divided into four distinct families that are as different as Chinese and English.
Erected by The Colorado Historical Society, the Bureau of Land Management, the Family of Nellie Mulnix Joy and the Frankston Family.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Anthropology & Archaeology • Indigenous Peoples and Communities.
Location. 37° 28.658′ N, 108° 32.734′ W. Marker is near Dolores, Colorado, in Montezuma County. It can be reached from State
this page online
Regionally, this marker is in the American Mountain West, in Colorado Plateau, and at the Four Corners. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once Mexicos Alta California.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Spanish Explorers (here, next to this marker); The Landscape (a few steps from this marker); Mesa Verde National Park & Ute Mountain Tribal Park (a few steps from this marker); Escalante Pueblo (within shouting distance of this marker); Rabbitbrush (within shouting distance of this marker); Big Sagebrush (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Prickly Pear Cactus (about 300 feet away); Wildlife or Relatives? (about 300
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 17, 2025
2. The People Marker
Escalante Pueblo historic site is in the background.
Also see . . . Ancestral Puebloans of the Four Corners Region (History Colorado).
Excerpt: The Ancestral Puebloan culture is the most widely known of the ancient cultures of Colorado. The people who built the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde and the great houses of Chaco Canyon were subsistence farmers of corn, beans, and squash. The structures of this culture date to between ca. 350 BC and AD 1300 and are found throughout southwestern Colorado and other adjacent states of the Four Corners region. The great southward migration from this region by AD 1300 marks the end of the Ancestral Puebloan occupation in southwestern Colorado. The sites and histories of this ancestral culture are still valued today in song and prayer by the Pueblo peoples now residing in New Mexico and Arizona. Ancestral Pueblo refers to both the ancient cultural tradition and the peoples once found in the Four Corners area of the American Southwest.(Submitted on December 24, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
Credits. This page was last revised on December 24, 2025. It was originally submitted on December 23, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 91 times since then and 60 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on December 24, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
