Cañon Pintado, meaning painted canyon, is an archaeological site

Archaeological site

An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...

 of Native American rock art

Rock art

Rock art is a term used in archaeology for any human-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:*Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces*Pictographs - rock and cave paintings...

 located in the East Four Mile Draw, 10.5 miles (16.9 km) south of Rangely

Rangely, Colorado

Rangely is a Statutory Town in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, United States. The population was 2,096 at the 2000 census. The town is home to one of two campuses of the Colorado Northwestern Community College.-Geography:...

 in Rio Blanco County, Colorado

Rio Blanco County, Colorado

Rio Blanco County is the sixth most extensive of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county population was 5,986 at U.S. Census 2000. The name of the county is the Spanish language name for the White River which runs through it...

. Led by Ute guides, the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition

Dominguez-Escalante Expedition

The Dominguez-Escalante Expedition was conducted in 1776 to find an overland route from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Spanish missions in California...

, Spanish missionaries in search of a route to California in 1776, passed through this region as the moved north and then west into Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

. The first Europeans to the area, they named it Cañon Pintado, meaning "painted canyon".

Rock art

The rock art was probably made by people of the Fremont culture

Fremont culture

The Fremont culture or Fremont people is a pre-Columbian archaeological culture which received its name from the Fremont River in the U.S. state of Utah where the first Fremont sites were discovered. The Fremont River itself is named for John Charles Frémont, an American explorer. It inhabited...

 (about AD 650 - 1150) and the Ute (about AD 1200 - 1881). No one has been able to positively identify the significance of the paintings, however, they were probably made to mark significant events or for religious purposes. The Fremont people were described in a Rangely

Rangely, Colorado

Rangely is a Statutory Town in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, United States. The population was 2,096 at the 2000 census. The town is home to one of two campuses of the Colorado Northwestern Community College.-Geography:...

 Museum brochure:

The Fremont people built villages, farmed the valley areas and on high points located watchtowers. In hidden places on the cliffs are still found cistern

Cistern

A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...

s and granaries

Granary

A granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. In ancient or primitive granaries, pottery is the most common use of storage in these buildings. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals.-Early origins:From ancient times grain...

 where they stored corn and seeds. Petroglyph

Petroglyph

Petroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...

s of corn stalks are at a number of these sites. Later the Utes hunted the area and used the valley until they were moved to a reservation

Indian reservation

An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...

 in 1881.

Sun Dagger Site

There is evidence that some of the petroglyphs may be of astronomical

Archaeoastronomy

Archaeoastronomy is the study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky how they used phenomena in the sky and what role the sky played in their cultures." Clive Ruggles argues it is misleading to consider archaeoastronomy to be the study of ancient astronomy, as modern...

 significance. The markings may indicate the significance winter or summer solstice but more data is required to verify these results.

Historic places

Nearby are the following National Register of Historic Places listings in Rio Blanco County, Colorado

National Register of Historic Places listings in Rio Blanco County, Colorado

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Rio Blanco County, Colorado. It is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, United States...

, all three are prehistoric Fremont culture

Fremont culture

The Fremont culture or Fremont people is a pre-Columbian archaeological culture which received its name from the Fremont River in the U.S. state of Utah where the first Fremont sites were discovered. The Fremont River itself is named for John Charles Frémont, an American explorer. It inhabited...

 sites:

Prehistoric sites

• Collage Shelter Site - dated from 500 - 1499 AD.
• Carrot Men Pictograph Site - dated from 500 - 1499 AD.
• Fremont Lookout Fortification Site - dated from 0 - 1499 AD.