Long before Zion National Park became one of America's most visited destinations, this canyon was home to some of the most resilient people in North American history. The red walls of Zion have sheltered human life for thousands of years.
As far back as 500 CE, the Ancestral Puebloans (sometimes called the Anasazi) farmed the canyon floor, built granaries into cliff faces, and left behind rock art that still endures today. Their presence can be seen in petroglyphs scattered throughout the park — silent stories carved into sandstone.
The Southern Paiute Nation By around 1200 CE, the Southern Paiute people had made this canyon their home. They called it Mukuntuweap — ‘straight canyon’ — and developed an intimate knowledge of the land, its plants, and its seasons. Their descendants still live in Southern Utah today.
Mormon Pioneers and the Name ‘Zion’ In the 1860s, Mormon settlers arrived and were so awestruck by the towering cliffs that they named the canyon ‘Zion’ — a Hebrew word meaning sanctuary or holy place. The name stuck, and in 1919, it became Utah’s first national park.
For a deeper dive into Zion’s layered human history—from the Ancestral Puebloans and Southern Paiute to the Mormon pioneers who renamed it—check out the official U.S. National Park Service History & Culture page: https://www.nps.gov/zion/learn/historyculture/index.htm.
Next time you walk these trails, remember: you’re following in footsteps that go back millennia. That’s the kind of perspective that makes every step feel a little more meaningful.
