new acquisition ORGANIZATION DONATES A THOROUGHLY RESEARCHED SITE

Organization Donates a Thoroughly Researched Site

NEW MEXICO PUEBLO IS CONSIDERED THE FORERUNNER OF LARGE 15TH-CENTURY NORTHERN RIO GRANDE COMMUNITIES.

Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, located five miles southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is among the best-researched and best-documented sites in the Southwest. That is due to the School of American Research’s (SAR) efforts, which include five excavation seasons, nearly 20 years of analysis, and nine published volumes. Studies conducted at this massive pueblo have given researchers a fundamental understanding of late prehistoric pueblos in the northern Rio Grande Valley.

Perched on the edge of the deep Arroyo Hondo gorge, the pueblo was established in the early A.D. 1300s, growing to about 1,000 rooms and perhaps as many inhabitants by 1330. Researchers consider this large community, which was temporarily abandoned around A.D. 1345, reoccupied in the 1370s, and finally abandoned by 1425, to be representative of both the precursors and the prototype of the big puebloan settlements that arose in the area prior to Spanish contact in the 16th century.

“The School of American Research’s multidisciplinary study of Arroyo Hondo provided a unique, comprehensive understanding of 14th-century ancestral puebloan life,” said Douglas Schwartz, president emeritus of SAR, principal investigator of the research project, and editor of the Arroyo Hondo publications. “Our research has clearly shown that this pueblo and perhaps other large late prehistoric communities in the area were the result of the merging of local populations, not the result of inhabitants migrating from the Mesa Verde region, as has been proposed by some.”

In the 1970s excavators from the School of American Research exposed an unusual above-ground "D" shaped kiva at Arroyo Honda Pueblo.

Systematic excavations conducted at the site focused on architecture, site organization and growth, dietary and ecological reconstruction through plant and animal remains analysis, as well as ceramic, artifact, and skeletal analysis. Many large prehistoric pueblos in the region lie beneath historic components, making them difficult to excavate. But Arroyo Hondo’s relatively short occupation and the absence of subsequent occupations have facilitated interpretation. Despite years of research, Schwartz estimated that 75 percent of the site’s deposits remain preserved.

SAR, which is based in Santa Fe, acquired Arroyo Hondo in the 1930s. Richard M. Leventhal, the organization’s current president, explained how the school’s focus has changed over the last 30 years: “As an anthropological research center and think tank, the school now focuses not on specific research but rather on broad global issues. It has become clear that it will be most beneficial for the Arroyo Hondo site to be cared for by a professional stewardship organization.”

This spring, the SAR’s board of managers donated the 20-acre site to the Conservancy, which will work closely with SAR’s staff to design a long-term management plan for the site and to backfill several of the exposed rooms. Schwartz will continue to participate in research at the site. —Tamara Stewart

Arroyo Hondo Pueblo