Investigations of a 17th-Century Spanish New Mexican Household: Social and Environmental Correlates of Colonization

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With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Heather Trigg and John Steinberg will conduct remote sensing and revitalize the records for one of the most important early colonial (AD 1598 - 1680) Spanish sites in New Mexico. LA 20,000 is the largest, most complex, and best-preserved seventeenth-century Spanish New Mexican ranch thus far identified archaeologically. The seventeenth century is the period of initial colonization when relationships between colonists and indigenous peoples were established. Spanish colonists' households provided an important context for intercultural exchanges among Spanish, Pueblo and Plains peoples. However, as yet, they are untapped sources of information about colonization processes in the Southwest because most investigations have focused on Pueblo villages or Franciscan missions within these villages. This is also a period when colonists' agricultural activities practices were instituted. Drs. Trigg and Steinberg also seek to investigate the ecological relationships colonists developed as they introduced new plants, animals, and land use practices. LA 20,000 has the potential to shed light on how Spanish colonizers established themselves in this novel social and physical environment, but the state of the site records makes it difficult to frame the analyses that would allow one to investigate these beginnings of Hispanic society in the American Southwest.Portions of LA 20,000 have been studied by archaeological field schools in the 1980s and 1990s, but the information about the collections and maps is insufficient to even ascertain if the existing samples and artifacts are adequate to tackle questions about colonists' social and ecological relationships. To address this problem, Drs. Trigg and Steinberg will examine the site records with the goal of assessing the quantity and distribution of the material recovered and accuracy of the spatial data generated during the field schools. Second, they will perform a geophysical survey (remote sensing) of the site to assess the nature of unexcavated archaeological features and relocate the field school excavations. With the results from these two activities, they will engage other personnel in evaluating the existing data relative to the overall project goals, which seek to investigate the economic production at the site, the engagement of indigenous peoples in these activities, and the social and economic links to nearby Pueblo villages. This research project will provide for the education and training of students in various aspects of archaeological research. This first phase of the project will employ graduate students in data collection in GIS (geographic information systems) and data management. The material from the larger project will generate at least one Ph.D. dissertation and several MA theses. In addition to the students' professional development, this research will provide information to the general public. The site is owned by El Rancho de las Golondrinas, a living history museum dedicated to bringing local Hispanic history and culture to the public. Trigg and Steinberg will partner with Golondrinas to develop information that can be included in the museum's educational programs, and the information gathered here will assist the museum in their collections management strategy for this site.