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Road Trip | Archaeology Site-Seeing | by PETER BG SHOEMAKER

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Road Trip | Archaeology Site-Seeing | by PETER BG SHOEMAKER Road Trip | Archaeology Site-Seeing | BY PETER BG SHOEMAKER Ladder up to ancient cave dwellings at Bandelier National Monument. Facing page: A bird keeps an eternal vigil at Petroglyph National Monument. JIM SHOEMAKER JIM 12 NEW MEXICO | NOVEMBER 2015 DAY 1: THE BIG PICTURE Dig In Before you plunge into the deep, dark past, This tour takes in nothing less than the arc spend a day getting oriented between the Sandía Mountains and the western mesas of human habitation in the Southwest. in Albuquerque. For a curated introduction, stop in at the Maxwell Museum of Anthro- NOWHERE IS NEW MEXICO’S vaunted diversity more pology at the University of New Mexico. apparent than in the state’s rich and very long archaeological While most of the collection focuses on the record. For nearly 12 millennia, beginning with those first curious stunning Ancestral Puebloan site of Chaco adventurers of the Pleistocene who streamed in from the Great Canyon, the real treats are the dioramas, Plains after their ancestors made the long voyage across the Bering ceramics, textiles, and commentary on the land bridge, denizens of this region have left behind traces of lives entire period of human habitation in the lived in a landscape that for all of its harshness offered shelter, food, state. It will give you a solid grounding on and a mild climate. From the Paleo-Indians of the Clovis period what was happening when, with whom, and (11,000–9,200 BC) to the Ancestral Puebloans (1200 BC–1000 sometimes why. AD) to the Classic Puebloans (1300–1600 AD) to the Spanish All of that is great, but nothing beats missionaries of La Conquista, just 400 years ago, New Mexico setting out into the field, and a quick drive is chock-full of sites to visit. This 650-mile road trip takes you across town to the mesas brings you to the through both the millennia and the landscapes of north-central justifiably famousPetroglyph National and eastern New Mexico, from the very beginnings to the near Monument. The 25,000 or so pieces of present. It’s quite a journey, in more ways than one. rock art scattered over a little more than 7,000 acres of dark volcanic rock range from the Clovis period to that of the Spanish settlers in the 18th century: in other words, a snapshot of the entire trip. Stop in at the visitor center to pick up a map, then skip ahead to the Rinconada Canyon trail, where the diverse peoples of the area and those just traveling through left their dreams and stories immortalized in stone—from strange creatures that we can’t identify to religious iconography, to things like wagon wheels and graffiti of the “Kilroy was here” variety. It’s a vivid reminder of both how strange and how familiar those who came before really were. DAY 2: SPEARHEADS AND WATERWORKS Now it’s time to head east, to the Beginning. Get started early, cross the mountains, and aim for Portales. About 10 minutes north of that city, on NM 467, is Blackwater Draw Locality No. 1. With a name only an archaeologist could love, it’s perhaps the most important site in the country for understanding early American settlement generally and the so-called Clovis people in particular. Archaeologists call Blackwater the “type site,” the model of how the first LAURENCE PARENT widespread culture in the New World lived nmmagazine.com | NOVEMBER 2015 13 84 GHOST RANCH 518 BANDELIER 25 NATIONAL MONUMENT 502 SANTA FE 4 PETROGLYPH PECOS NATIONAL NATIONAL MONUMENT HISTORICAL TUCUMCARI PARK 84 40 40 ALBUQUERQUE SANTA ROSA Land formations that enthralled 285 84 O’Keeffe served as protection from the elements at Ghost Ranch. 60 60 CLOVIS BLACKWATER DRAW 25 PORTALES mountains that made Georgia O’Keeffe Bracelet by Ramona Vigil-Eastwood, 54 DAY 4 (AND MAYBE 5): photo: Pat Barrett 380 weak in the knees. In fact, those moun- FROM THE CLASSIC PUEBLO TO CONTEMPORARY 70 CARRIZOZO tains around Ghost Ranch, just outside THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY Abiquiú, drew thousands of generations of Frijoles Canyon, in what is now Bandelier 70 ROSWELL people before her. And it wasn’t just for National Monument, is about an hour south the scenery. At the very end of the Colo- of Abiquiú and 1,000 years nearer to us. It’s HISPANIC ALAMOGORDO rado Plateau, the area offered plentiful where things begin to feel a little familiar. deep canyons and many streams, perfect Although the area had been inhabited since winter market, inc. 12,000 years ago. It reveals the first evidence for people needing protection from the Clovis, the first interesting archaeological of what would become one of the most elements and access to the fundamentals evidence was of a small village of Ancestral important aspects of life in New Mexico, of agriculture and food production. Like Puebloans. But it was one that just kept Making New Traditions and indeed most of the Southwest—water Blackwater, this area was first populated growing, and by the late 15th century it was management. You can even see the oldest by Clovis-era people. There’s evidence a huge, thriving community. well in the Americas from the trail. The site that they farmed, hunted, and made art The 1.2-mile roundabout trail from November 14–15, 2015 also features plenty of the spearheads that are under rock shelters that are still visible the visitor center is an object lesson in the defining trait of the Clovis people. Fun during the spring and summer tours the how people adapted to their environ- Saturday, November 14 from 10:00am-7:00pm fact: Scientists were able to retrieve proteins ranch offers. As in many places in New ment and took advantage of the natural Sunday, November 15 from 10:00am-5:00pm from these spearheads showing that their Mexico, people just kept right on living world to make their lives better. It hits all Art event free and open to the public makers and users were eating mammoths, where the living was good, and many the highlights: cool, small rooms; walled camels, horses, saber-toothed cats, and centuries later, early Ancestral Puebloan plazas; secure storage areas; water- and bison. Self-guided tours on well-marked and Indians left their own marks. scavenger-proof caves carved in the rock Manual Lujan Building located on the Expo NM State Fair Grounds mapped dirt trails take a couple of hours. Artifacts of all these civilizations are about the town (some with ladders you can 300 San Pedro NE, Albuquerque NM 87108 The Blackwater Draw Museum in Portales displayed at the on-site Florence Hawley use to take a peek at a sight very similar to brings together a lot of similar artifacts, and Ellis Museum of Anthropology. Spend what one would have seen in the 1400s); makes a good complement to the hike. some time there looking at the incompa- agricultural areas; and water storage. There Join us for our Winter Market in Albuquerque as we make "New Traditions" a reality. The Contemporary rable collection of Gallina artifacts. Dating is also a side trail that takes you to a cliff Hispanic Winter Market is the only art show to showcase contemporary Hispanic artists and traditional DAY 3: from the Great Pueblo period, 1,000 face and a series of ladders that in turn artists who are at least 1/4 Hispanic descendants and New Mexico residents. We invite the public to THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS years ago, the collection of ceramics and lead to a huge cave that formerly held a experience this free event celebrating Hispanic art. For more information please call 505-331-5162. The next day, it’s a four-hour drive north stoneware will get you ready for the next small village with animal pens and still to the rugged, red-quartz-and-siltstone day’s adventures. houses a kiva. The distance between then COLLINS ANDREW 14 NEW MEXICO | NOVEMBER 2015 Bracelet by Ramona Vigil-Eastwood, photo: Pat Barrett CONTEMPORARY HISPANIC winter market, inc. Making New Traditions November 14–15, 2015 Saturday, November 14 from 10:00am-7:00pm Sunday, November 15 from 10:00am-5:00pm Art event free and open to the public Manual Lujan Building located on the Expo NM State Fair Grounds 300 San Pedro NE, Albuquerque NM 87108 Join us for our Winter Market in Albuquerque as we make "New Traditions" a reality. The Contemporary Hispanic Winter Market is the only art show to showcase contemporary Hispanic artists and traditional artists who are at least 1/4 Hispanic descendants and New Mexico residents. We invite the public to experience this free event celebrating Hispanic art. For more information please call 505-331-5162. Clockwise from above: ENMU grad students excavate the bones of an extinct form of bison (killed by Paleo-Indian hunter-gatherers) from Blackwater Draw Local- ity No. 1. A parade of figures at Petroglyph National Monument. While at Ghost Ranch, you can delve into the related realm of pale- ontology; the world’s only known complete Vancleavea skull was excavated from the Ghost Ranch Coelophy- sis Quarry in 1997. and now is shorter in New Mexico than in of regional commerce and culture, the many similar sites throughout the world, pueblo’s remains are still open to travelers because direct descendants of that first who wish to wander through. When the small village live nearby, in the modern-day Pecos Pueblo began to dissolve, its people pueblos of San Ildefonso and Cochiti. finally ended up at another well-known If you’ve still got time on day 4, or first contemporary pueblo: Jemez.
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