Bright Angel Delta
The
second phase of the Grand Canyon research was the excavation in 1969 of a small, isolated
pueblo located downstream from Unkar Delta at the mouth of Bright Angel Creek in the
narrow Granite Gorge (map). The
earliest written description of Bright Angel Pueblo dates to 1869, when John Wesley Powell
discovered the site during his expedition down the Colorado River. When the School began
its excavation (same year as the John W. Powell Centennial), the seven-room pueblo was in
poor condition. Part of the walls had been used in the construction of the mule trail
adjacent to the site, and most of the surface material had been removed by members of
previous expeditions and by visitors to nearby Phantom Ranch. Nevertheless, it was decided
to excavate the site on the basis of its archaeological significance as an example of
isolated inner-canyon settlement and on the basis of its historical interest as a
discovery of John Wesley Powell one hundred years earlier. Upon completion of excavation,
the site was stabilized by the National Park Service and opened to the public.
