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Galisteo Basin Archaeological SitesRead about the Galisteo Basin Archaeological sites on this page. To get the most out of this website, you may want to make sure you have the current Flash player loaded, and visit our Interactive Galisteo Map.
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 Site Type: Petroglyphs |
Comanche Gap PetroglyphsAlso known as Creston or Puertacito de los Salados.
Rock-art scholar Polly Schaafsma called this a "magical place bristling with protective powers." War imagery dominates the rock art here, created by the Galisteo Basin Tano between AD 1350-1680. Petroglyphs here include Shalako kachinas; star motifs; predatory animals and birds; and warriors with shields and clubs.
The Comanche Gap Petroglyphs are not open to the public, although the Laboratory of Anthropology occasionally offers guided tours.
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 Site Type: Pithouse village |
Lamy Junction SiteLamy Junction Site is not open to the public.
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 Site Type: Pueblo |
Arroyo Hondo PuebloAlso known as Kua-Kay. First inhabited circa 1350.
This large and complex site contained 24 roomblocks (about 1200 rooms total) of masonry and abobe, each about 2-3 stories high, 8 plazas, and 8 kivas. The inhabitants also constructed an acequia system (irrigation ditch) from a permanent spring below the pueblo to their fields. This large pueblo was probably built in three phases. Some unusual artifacts discovered here include figurines, bone and shell ornaments, and wind instruments made of bones and turtle shells. A wide array of ceramics includes styles from Kwahe'e, Pindi, Wijo, Galisteo, Poge, Abiquiu, Agua Fria, Cieneguilla, San Clemente, and Largo.
Arroyo Hondo Pueblo is not open to the public.
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Arroyo Hondo Pueblo. Photo courtesy Bureau of Land Management.
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| Site Type: Pueblo |
Chamisa Locita PuebloThis 300-room pueblo was inhabited between AD 1300-1400. Artifacts discovered here during excavations in 1958 and 1971 include bone and stone tools, fragments of figurines, and shell beads.
Chamisa Locita Pueblo is not open to the public.
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| Site Type: Pueblo |
Espinoso Ridge PuebloAlso called the Espinosa Hill Ruin.
This small site consists of one masonry roomblock, dating from the Pueblo IV period, between 1300 AD - 1600 AD.
Espinoso Ridge Pueblo is not open to the public.
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| Site Type: Pueblo |
Lamy PuebloLamy Pueblo is not open to the public.
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| Site Type: Pueblo |
Paako Pueblo Tano people inhabited this large pueblo at various times between the14th and 17th centuries. This site is associated with a short-lived seventeenth century Spanish mission (a visita, not regularly staffed) named San Pedro. Excavations revealed the foundation of the church, corral, and adjacent plaza. The excavations have also revealed two kivas, which were apparently not used concurrently.
Located at the head of the San Pedro Valley, one of three major drainage systems on the eastern slope of the Sandia Mountains, Paako Pueblo is well-situated on a watered flood plain, adjacent to springs and timber, and at the cross roads between the Rio Grande Valley and the Plains. Excavations and surveys reveal an abundance of glazeware, including red and polychrome.
Recent work by the University of Chicago has exposed a series of well-defined features used in copper smelting and other metal working activities at Paa-ko. These features are dated to the 17th century, and is assumed to be a result of Spanish activity. The same area of the site was repeatedly used for metal production, with features created by periodic episodes of use, maintenance, and reconstruction. The specific functions of these facilities may have included copper smelting, copper ore roasting, charcoal preparation, and iron forging. Preliminary analysis of ores, slags, and finished copper from these excavations suggests the inhabitants used locally-available malachite to produce copper and copper-iron metals. In 2003, archeologists uncovered evidence of lead smelting at the site. Metal artifacts found here include fragments of weapons.
Paako Pueblo is not open to the public, although it is visible from the road.
Archeological exploration of Paako Pueblo
Paa-ko Revisited: Presented at the Society for American Archaeology, Denver
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Paako Pueblo; kiva on plaza.
Paako Pueblo. Excavations by the University of Chicago.
Paako Pueblo. Tiers of roomblocks
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| Site Type: Pueblo |
Pueblo BlancoAlso known as Tabirá. A ruined Tanoan pueblo on the south border of the Galisteo plain, north central New Mexico, occupied between AD 1350 - 1525, based on tree-ring dating.
This site was partially excavated by Nels Nelson in 1914, but subsequent work on the site has been restricted to surface analysis and test excavations. Unlike other area sites, the only ceramics found here were plain biscuitware, and only stone or bone tools have been found.
Recently, the Office of Contract Archeology at UNM (link below) has been conducting additional surveys and investigations, including discovery of several new sites in the area.
Pueblo Blanco is not open to the public, although the Laboratory of Anthropology offers occasional guided tours.
New Information on Pueblo Blanco from UNMs OCA
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| Site Type: Pueblo |
Pueblo ColoradoA ruined Tanoan pueblo on the south border of the Galisteo plain, north central New Mexico. The site is estimated to have been inhabited between AD 1275 and the 1600s.
Pueblo Colorado (also known as Tze-man Tu-o) was partially excavated in 1912, revealing two kivas, a reservoir, and a residential roomblock.
Pueblo Colorado is not open to the public.
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| Site Type: Pueblo |
Pueblo LargoPueblo Largo was a compact, communal Tano village inhabited during the Pueblo III era, circa AD 1230 – 1290, occupied again between 1300-1475, and possibly also in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Excavations in 1914 and 1950 and surveys in 1994 have revealed diverse pottery types from Santa Fe, Galisteo, Abiquiu, Bandelier, Heshotauthla, Chupadero, and the Rio Grande Pueblos.
Work has also revealed 8 rectangular roomblocks of stone and adobe, 4 regular kivas, 5 plazas, and a shrine. The pueblo was estimated to have contained about 480+ rooms, and although erosion has affected some of the rooms, many walls are still intact.
Pueblo Largo is not open to the public.
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| Site Type: Pueblo |
Pueblo SheA Pueblo IV site, Inhabited by the Tano between 14th-17th centuries.
Excavation in 1984 revealed 3 kivas, a rectangular roomblock, an irrigation reservoir, and the foundation of a house dating to the US Territorial period.
Pueblo She is not open to the public, although the Laboratory of Anthropology occasionally offers guided tours.
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| Site Type: Pueblo |
San Cristobal Pueblo Also known as Yam-p-ham-ba (a narrow strip of willows).
The site of San Cristobal lies just below a rocky bluff on the banks of a creek that flows out of the hills and into the broad basin. In addition to hiding a number of painted caves and sacred places, the bluff provided its ancient residents a vantage point to watch for raiders from the eastern plains.
The first habitation of this drainage was between AD 400-600. The pueblo itself dates from the Pueblo III period, when the central pueblo was built and rooms were added. This was a trade center for the lead-based galena glaze. The population boomed in AD 1450–1680. The architecture was stone and adobe, with rectangular roomblocks and regular kivas.
At one time, San Cristobal was one of the largest pueblos in the Southwest, four or five stories high and containing as many as 600 ground-floor rooms. Just up the hill from the pueblo are the ruins of the Spanish mission built in AD 1620.
Following the Pueblo Revolt in 1680, San Cristobal's last inhabitants probably migrated to the other pueblos along the Rio Grande, and some traveled as far away as the Hopi mesas in Arizona.
San Cristobal Pueblo is not open to the public, although the Laboratory of Anthropology occasionally sponsors guided tours.
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| Site Type: Pueblo |
San Marcos PuebloSan Marcos Pueblo, inhabited between AD 1300-1680, was a major trade center for the region. Roomblocks with more tha a hundred rooms are located around a central plaza, containing kivas (Nelson 1914). The inhabitants of San Marcos may have constructed a reservoir for irrigation. Around AD 1425, the population increased as dispersed communities aggregated in larger settlements to conserve water during this drought period.
After the Spanish entrada, San Marcos became an important paraje, or campsite, on one of the main routes of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. The pueblo was abandoned after the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. The people of San Marcos joined the Navajo and Apache in refugee communities in Potrero Viejo. The Keresan inhabitants fled to Acoma, and others to Hopi.
Pottery found (dating from AD 1350–1475) includes many glaze polychromes from La Cieneguilla Pueblo, Pueblo Largo, and Espinosa Ridge.
San Marcos Pueblo is not open to the public.
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San Marcos Pueblo
A reconstruction of San Marcos Pueblo during its heydey. Illustration courtesy BLM.
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 Site Type: Quarry |
Rote Chert QuarryNot open to the public.
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 Site Type: Site |
Las Huertas DistrictThis area in the Sandia foothills contains a Pueblo settlement dating from the middle of the 17th century. Surveys of the site reveal a single l-shaped roomblock, with possibly two additional roomblocks; a horno, and a possible kiva.
This site may have evolved into the village of San Jose de las Huertas, populated between 1765 -1826. Surveys of the area reveal the remains of colonial Spanish adobe houses and metal artifacts, mixed in with classic-style Pueblo roomblocks, and a wide range of ceramics.
Las Huertas is not open to the public.
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