The figurines are shaped like deer and bighorn sheep. have been discovered in caves in the canyon wall. Hundreds of small split-twig figurines made between 10 B.C. Large stone spear points provide evidence of early human occupation. Prehistoric humans first settled in and around the canyon during the last Ice Age, when mammoths, giant sloths and other large mammals still roamed North America. Native Cultures At Grand CanyonĪrchaeologists have discovered ruins and artifacts from inhabitants dating back nearly 12,000 years. Today, tourists to Grand Canyon National Park can trace the canyon’s geologic history on the Trail of Time, an interpretive exhibit on the park’s South Rim. The Vishnu rocks formed about 1.7 billion years ago when magma hardened and joined this region-once a volcanic ocean chain-to the North American continent. The oldest known rocks in the canyon, called the Vishnu Basement Rocks, can be found near the bottom of the Inner Gorge. These rock layers have given geologists the opportunity to study evolution through time. The mile-high walls reveal a cross section of Earth’s crust going back nearly two billion years. ![]() The Grand Canyon contains some of the oldest exposed rock on Earth. This natural landmark formed about five to six million years as erosion from the Colorado River cut a deep channel through layers of rock. The canyon measures over 270 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and a mile deep, making it one of the biggest canyons in the world. The Grand Canyon is located in northern Arizona, northwest of the city of Flagstaff.
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