Arroyo Hondo Pueblo | |
| Nearest city | Santa Fe, New Mexico |
|---|---|
| Area | 12 acres (4.9 ha) |
| Built | 1300 |
| NRHP reference # | 07000950 [1] |
| NMSRCP # | 1901 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | September 13, 2007 |
| Designated NMSRCP | October 13, 2006 |
Arroyo Hondo Pueblo was a pueblo in the upper Rio Grande valley, New Mexico. First occupied in the 13th century, the complex grew rapidly, and at its peak in the 14th century contained up to a thousand rooms; it has been called a "pueblo boomtown". [2] However, it was short-lived, and the site was abandoned by about 1425. [3]
In the Southwestern United States, the term Pueblo refers to communities of Native Americans, both in the present and in ancient times. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material. These structures were usually multi-storied buildings surrounding an open plaza. The rooms were accessible only through ladders lowered by the inhabitants, thus protecting them from break-ins and unwanted guests. Larger pueblos were occupied by hundreds to thousands of Pueblo people. Various federally recognized tribes have traditionally resided in pueblos of such design.
The Rio Grande is one of the principal rivers in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, it forms part of the Mexico–United States border. According to the International Boundary and Water Commission, its total length was 1,896 miles (3,051 km) in the late 1980s, though course shifts occasionally result in length changes. Depending on how it is measured, the Rio Grande is either the fourth- or fifth-longest river system in North America.
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States of America; its capital and cultural center is Santa Fe, which was founded in 1610 as capital of Nuevo México, while its largest city is Albuquerque with its accompanying metropolitan area. It is one of the Mountain States and shares the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona; its other neighboring states are Oklahoma to the northeast, Texas to the east-southeast, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua to the south and Sonora to the southwest. With a population around two million, New Mexico is the 36th state by population. With a total area of 121,592 sq mi (314,920 km2), it is the fifth-largest and sixth-least densely populated of the 50 states. Due to their geographic locations, northern and eastern New Mexico exhibit a colder, alpine climate, while western and southern New Mexico exhibit a warmer, arid climate.
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The pueblo has been the subject of a major archaeological research project since the 1970s, directed by Douglas W. Schwartz. [4] It was listed in the United States National Register of Historic Places in 2007. [5] [6]
Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts and cultural landscapes. Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America archaeology is a sub-field of anthropology, while in Europe it is often viewed as either a discipline in its own right or a sub-field of other disciplines.
Douglas W. Schwartz was an American archaeologist best known for his work on the anthropology and archaeology of the American Southwest. He was described by the School for Advanced Research (SAR) where he had been President and CEO as "a towering figure in the history of SAR and American archaeology".
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred in preserving the property.
