TAS Monthly Meeting/Lecture

  • 13 Sep 2011
  • 7:00 PM - 8:29 PM
  • Kit Carson Electric - 118 Cruz Alta Rd, Taos

Registration

Our regularly scheduled speaker's meeting starts at 7:00 PM

Date:          Tuesday,  September 13, 2011

Location:    Kit Carson Electric, 118 Cruz Alta Rd,

                     Taos  

Title:           Recent Excavations at LA2, the Agua Fria Schoolhouse Site Southwest of Santa Fe

Speaker:     Cortney Wands, Field Director of the LA2 site


As more archaeological work is done on the high terraces along the Santa Fe River and on the benches between canyons in the Santa Fe Mountain foothills, our knowledge of the physical presence of early Pueblo people is increasing.  One such example of this is the Agua Fria Schoolhouse site, first recognized in the early 1930s by H.P. Mera.  Best known as a type site for the Classic Period in the middle Northern Rio Grande, excavations in 1989 by the author's company recognized a substantial Coalition period pueblo lay beneath the more massive Classic period pueblo.   More recently in 2009, Southwest returned to the site and conducted extensive excavations within the portion of Agua Fria Road running through the site. 

           This talk reports on that work and our research into the growing population of the late thirteenth and early fourtheenth centuries in the Santa Fe River Valley, which left a noticeable mark on the landscape.  Archaeologists believe substantial numbers of people moved into the region in general, and the greater Santa Fe area in particular.  The number and size of sites increased such that most archaeologists believe population growth derived from people leaving Chaco Canyon, the northern San Juan River area and Mesa Verde or from population pressure as in-coming groups prompted movement across the region.  Some archaeologists view the coming together of large numbers of people as a coalescence of local populations in response to changing environmental and social circumstances.  Still others suggest large groupings were the most efficient way to expand the size of the community that regularly worked together and shared resources.  Although mobility remained an important part of Pueblo land use, what was changing was the size of the geographical space recognized, used and remembered by distinct groups; territories became increasingly focused on specific locales as populations moved within areas and among homesites, fields, and gathering and hunting areas.  Examining these processes, that is, population coalescence and community definition, are the focus of Southwest's research at LA2.


Dinner Plans ?
Dinner will be at 5 p.m. at The Trading Post Cafe in Ranchos de Taos.

 Please RSVP to Dorothy by Friday, September 9 if you plan to join us for dinner.

Dorothy_Wells@me.com or 751-3265 

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Taos Archaeological Society

PO Box 143

Taos, NM, 87571

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