CANYON DE CHELLY NATIONAL MONUMENT

national monument in northeastern Arizona, U.S., on the Navajo Indian reservation immediately east of Chinle. The name is a Spanish corruption of tsegi, a Navajo word meaning rock canyons. The monument, which was established in 1931, occupies 131 square miles (339 square km) and includes several hundred pre-Columbian cliff dwellings, built at the base of red sandstone cliffs or in caves on the steep canyon walls. They cover a longer period than any other ruins in the Southwest, many of them dating from the 11th century. Relics of the Basket Maker culture have been found under those of the later Cliff Dweller and Pueblo cultures. Modern Navajo Indian homes and farms occupy the canyon bottoms. Thunderbird Ranch Campground is the monument headquarters.