Many visitors to the Grand Canyon and the northern Arizona region are interested in the unique cultures, such as the Hopi, Navajo, Zuni, and other Native American tribes that live on the Colorado Plateau. The Museum's award-winning permanent anthropology exhibit, Native Peoples of the Colorado Plateau, documents 12,000 years of occupation in the region. The Ethnology Gallery enlightens visitors about the daily lives of tribes today, many of whom balance traditional lifestyles with jobs and activities outside their reservations. A Hopi Kiva Room and Jewelry Gallery offer additional insight into the daily lives of these peoples and a chance to see the magnificent artwork they create.

          
                The Emergence

A modern Hopi mural in the Museum's Kiva Gallery is recreating ancient stories of emergence and traditional life from the Hopi point of view.

It also incorporates a new look at historical accounts and symbols of worldly events.  Hopi artists Michael Kabotie and Delbridge Honanie call it the "mythic journey mural."  "We are looking at the painting as a weaving of the shadow side (the unhealed) and the light side of our lives.  We can learn quite a bit from this type of exploration," say the artists.

More information about the Kiva Gallery Mural

         

The Old Courtyard features a Life Zone Exhibit, where visitors are introduced to the extraordinary diversity of the Colorado Plateau's climate. During the spring, summer, and fall, outdoor exploration opportunities are available on the Museum campus. Visitors can stroll along the Nature Trail and visit the Amphibian Pond to see local plants and wildlife. Written nature trail guidebooks are available at the Admissions Desk.

         

Did you know that Flagstaff's beautiful San Francisco Peaks are really a large, dormant volcano? Find this out and more in the Geology Gallery, with its geologic models, fossils, and mineral specimens. The permanent exhibits in this area of the Museum introduce you to the many changes the Colorado Plateau has undergone through millions of years of geologic and volcanic activity. A highlight of this gallery is a life-size skeletal model of Dilophosaurus, a carnivorous dinosaur found in northern Arizona.

         

Exemplary fine arts of the region are displayed in the Lockett Fine Arts Gallery.  This gallery and the Chase Gallery also highlight some of the Museum's own outstanding collection of easel art and sculpture.

        
               Histories in Clay:  1800 Years of
           Native American Ceramic Artistry

The Babbitt Gallery is an intimate gallery complete with a reading area and fireplace.

Hopi people believe that pottery fragments are the footsteps of their ancestors. Archaeologists also appreciate the windows into past culture that both potsherds and whole ceramic vessels provide. MNA cofounder Harold Colton was instrumental in creating the classification system scientists still use to sort the vast array of prehistoric Southwestern ceramics design styles, manufacture techniques,  and cultural traits. The coalescence of these views is expressed in this exhibit which features 151 prehistoric and contemporary ceramic vessels from both the Babbitt Collection and MNA general collections.