Adventures in Colorado and New Mexico 2012

October 2012

Started out from Elk Grove, CA on October 1 on a month's journey to Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico.  First we drove (in tandem, me in my own car, my dear friend Michael with his car and camper) to Dolores, Colorado a really rustic back-country kind of place about sixty miles west of Durango. We set up our camp there and used it as a base since we would be "trekking" around the area and also going to/from Santa Fe at least for the first part of October.  First thing was to meet up with the archaeologist in charge of the Champagne Spring Ruins (see blog dated May 2012 for description and pictures) to see what work we could do at the dig since it was off-season and things would soon be closed up for the winter.  We met the archaeologist at the site and he showed us how much progress was made at each site since were were there back in May.  Wow!  Amazing amount of work transpired and many of the site features were definitely in evidence.  He selected one of the sites that had been dug out except there were still piles of dirt along the side of the site yet to be sifted so we concentrated our efforts on this task over the next few days.  We put dirt into pails and dragged them over to be screened.  After we were there for two to three days, we really didn't have a huge amount of artifacts to show for all of our effort, but we are still happy to be working at the dig site and contributing our time to a worthy endeavor.  I think we were meant to be archaeologists - maybe in the next life!  Here are some pictures of the sites at the current time.

Me standing at partially excavated ruin - October 2012

Partially excavated Kiva ruin - October 2012

Dolores, Colorado

Scenery behind the camper

Dolores is an amazing area in close proximity to many ancient Indian sites. Mesa Verde National Park is only thirty minutes away.  Crow Canyon Archaeological center is also about thirty miles away and Hovenweep National Monument where Anasazi occupied the area from about 500 to 1300 A.D is an hour away.  One very special place in Dolores is the Anasazi Heritage Center described as follows:

The Anasazi Heritage Center is a federal museum, research center, and curation facility, with approximately three million records, samples, and artifacts from public lands throughout southwestern Colorado. The Heritage Center is also the visitor center for the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.

It was one of our favorite places to visit in Dolores.  Here are a few pictures of some of their exhibits.

Anasazi polychrome pottery

Ancient artifacts

Anasazi black on white pottery

Anasazi black on white pottery

On to Santa Fe - October 2012

After a week plus in Dolores, we drove 273 miles to Santa Fe from Dolores and needless to say enjoyed our time together there.  We are members of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation (MNMF) Friends of Archaeology and were planning to get in some volunteer time at the Office of Archaeological Studies (OAS) - whose director is Eric Blinman, a well-know archaeologist in the Southwest. Perhaps we could wash project artifacts in their lab, for example.  But when we arrived in Santa Fe, we learned the OAS was moving from the State of New Mexico downtown offices to their new headquarters about eight miles out of town!  The OAS was more than happy to put us to work moving the Osteology lab (osteology is the scientific study of bones).  The lab director, another staff, myself and Michael loaded a large, wheeled cart with boxes of bones to my parked car and proceeded to unload them into the back of my SUV.  We made several trips and moved just about the entire lab in the two days we volunteered for the OAS.  What fun!  Here's a couple of pictures of Michael and I carrying bones from my car to the new lab location and some background of where the lab is located:

Me carrying bones into lab for OAS

Michael carrying bones into lab for OAS

Me out there near OAS new facilities

OAS new state of the art facility

Mission accomplished and on to other exciting times in Santa Fe......!

Santa Fe is an interesting, incredible place though not without some frustrations as well when one stays for as long as I did...over a month.  I stayed in a casita (a small house) in the Guadalupe District also referred to as the railway district because of the historic railway station once there.  Since the establishment of the commuter train called the Railrunner (I keep wanting to call it Roadrunner) in 2008, the railway district is living up to its name again. With more commuters, the area has many restaurants, shops and antique stores nearby as well as pueblo or adobe style housing like the casita I stayed in. The neighborhood is going through some redevelopment so is a mix of old and newly refurbished historical housing. Some of the streets are quite narrow and gives one the feeling of the old Spanish town it once was when the Spanish ruled for close to four hundred years in spite of the successful Pueblo Revolt in 1680 which drove the Spanish away for twelve years.  Santa Fe was designated the capital of the Spanish territory in 1610. In 1821 Mexico was able to free themselves of Spanish rule.  The United States eventually drove the Mexicans out during the Mexican-American war. Mexico and the U.S. signed the treaty of Guadalupe-Hildalgo in 1846 that gave much of the Northern territories to the U.S. for about $15M. I could go on and on regarding the history of Santa Fe including the thousands of years that pueblo Indians lived in New Mexico before other nations came to stake a claim on the land and change its destiny forever. To get an understanding of U.S. history in the Southwest, I highly recommend reading Blood and Thunder, an Epic of the American West by Hampton Sides.  Though it is a non-fiction book, it reads like a novel about the U.S. conquest of the West (Kit Carson played a large part in the move West) who was helping to fulfill the dream of "manifest destiny" - the desire to expand across the continent. It's difficult for me to believe at times that New Mexico and Santa Fe was the wild West and pretty remote just 166 years ago!

Some of my frustrations included the night some unknown persons applied rather gross graffiti on a stucco wall of a rental home next door and also to some utility boxes and signs.  Luckily, my car wasn't touched nor my landlord's casitas.  But it gave me some insecure feelings for a while. I'll have to say all of the neighbors immediately went to work to get rid of the words and symbols and within a day or two, you would never know they were there. I spoke to a neighbor who has worked with some of the youth in Santa Fe there is no love lost between different groups in Santa Fe. It saddened me as I like many are under the illusion it is one of those places where different people could live peaceably together because of the hundreds of years of history.  I guess the reality isn't always the utopia we envision. A couple other frustrations were plumbing problems first with my casita and then the casita next door. That one caused the laundry behind it to flood.  But these things happen even in Santa Fe when one doesn't live in hotel.

The casita is about a mile or so from the famous Santa Fe plaza, the main hub of activity in historic times and now.  There are several museums including the new New Mexico history museum (opened in 2009) graphically displaying the history of Santa Fe over the past several hundred years.  The tour of the history museum also includes the Palace of the Governors established during Spanish rule in the 1600's and kept as a historic museum now.  Outside of the museum pueblo Indians still sell their hand-made jewelry and pottery to a never-ending stream of tourists.  I was there during October, a time considered off-season, but the weekends are still fairly busy in Santa Fe. I love the plaza area, the museums, the restaurants, the shops.  But of course spending a month in Santa Fe has to include activities other than the main plaza area.

Here's a link to the New Mexico History museum and Palace of the Governors:
http://www.nmhistorymuseum.org/campus.php


One day trip was to Petroglyph National Monument outside of Albuquerque.  Petroglyphs are of particular interest to Michael. Here is the National Park's description of this area:

"Petroglyph National Monument protects one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America, featuring designs and symbols carved onto volcanic rocks by Native Americans and Spanish settlers 400 to 700 years ago. These images are a valuable record of cultural expression and hold profound spiritual significance for contemporary Native Americans and for the descendants of the early Spanish settlers"

Following are a few of somewhat representative pictures we took while there:

Happy to be at Petroglyph Nat'l Monument

Michael departed Santa Fe the third week in October as there was a snow forecast for the Sierras and just barely made it as he had to drive back to Colorado and pack up the camper and get it ready before he could drive back home. Needless to say, I was sad to see him leave and I still had well over two weeks to go before I left for home. But, happily my daughter was coming in the next day so sadness didn't linger too long, and wonderful memories of my time with Michael took its place.

My daughter flew into Albuquerque and stayed with me in Santa Fe for about five days.  We had a grand time shopping around the plaza, taking in several museums, eating at some great places while out: Coyote Cafe, Chocolate Maven (yum), the famous Compound restaurant on Canyon Road, Casa Sena on the plaza, and Cafe Pasqual's.  There was a special art event on Canyon Road, so we spent a day, touring the galleries, watching artists paint and just hung out together.  It was such a special time. Here are some pictures including a wonderful one of my daughter.

Strolling along Canyon Road, Santa Fe

Artists painting on Canyon Road, Santa Fe

Jeannie, my daughter

Jeannie left on the 21st...I missed her so much!  I was so happy she could make it out to Santa Fe as it's one of her loves ever since she was 14 when she and I made our first trip to Northern New Mexico.  Who at that time would have ever guessed what an impact that area would have on us!

I was on my own for several days which I enjoyed relaxing at my casita, shopping around the plaza area and going to a couple of museums before my best friend, Sheila, from the Los Angeles area, could make it out for a nice six day visit.  I hadn't seen her for four years which was the last time we met in New Mexico for a vacation.  It was so great to see her and it was like yesterday, hardly any real catching up to do and we got along great.  Sheila is a very easy person to be around.

We spent one day at Pecos National Historical Park, only about 25 miles East of Santa Fe.  Here was an interesting mix of history of ancient pre-pueblo and pueblo Indian ruins. It's a fascinating history of Indian people who set up a pueblo village that became a main hub of trade with people along the Rio Grande valley and also with hunting tribes of the buffalo plains. Their history occurred long before the Spaniards entered this country. (see Pecos National Historical Park website for more detail on Indian history). Here are some quotes from this website:   "A Spanish conquistador described the pueblo in 1584 set on a "high and narrow hill, enclosed on both sides by two streams and many trees. It has the greatest and best buildings of these provinces and is most thickly settled." The people had "quantities of maize, cotton, beans, and squash," and the pueblo was "enclosed and protected by a wall and large houses, and by tiers of walkways which look out on the countryside. On these they keep their offensive and defensive arms: bows, arrows, shields, spears, and war clubs."  The first Spanish church was built in 1621 at Pecos with the hope of converting the Indians to Christianity.  But all was destroyed after the coordinated Indian pueblo revolt in 1680 that drove the Spaniards back to Mexico.  After twelve years the Spaniards returned to New Mexico and no longer encountered much Indian resistance. Another church was built.  I included some pictures of our great hike around the ruins.

Pecos Pueblo ruins

Me at Spancish Church

View of rebuilt Spanish church ruins at Pecos

Sheila at the church ruins  

Glorieta Pass

After Pecos we drove to Glorieta Pass, (the site of a civil war battle), about six miles from Pecos and then another mile down a bumpy dirt road.  The ranger station gave us the combination to open the locked gate as the area is not manned by the national park service.  After we opened the gate, drove in we locked it behind us. We were the only ones there! We hiked all around the area and although we were told there was a battle here in 1862, we only saw trees and grass...still it was interesting to be here knowing a battle had been fought during the civil war.

Here's a blurb written by the national park service at Pecos:

"Glorieta Pass was a strategic location, situated at the southern tip of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, southeast of Santa Fe, and on the Santa Fe Trail. In March 1862, a Confederate force of 200-300 Texans under the command of Maj. Charles L. Pyron encamped at Johnson’s Ranch, at one end of the pass. Union Maj. John M. Chivington led more than 400 soldiers to the Pass and on the morning of March 26 moved out to attack."

After a couple of days, the Union side had driven back the Confederates winning the battle although at first the Confederates thought they are won.  If you are interested in reading the battle details, check out NPS write-up:

http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/nm002.htm

Back to Santa Fe and Museum of New Mexico Foundation Friends of Archaeology annual fund-raiser

Sheila and I had a very fun-filled week and off she went on November 3rd.  On November 4 I attended the Friends of Archaeology annual silent-auction fund raiser for the Office of Archaeological Studies.  It was a very nice late afternoon luncheon buffet.  I bid and won about four items, a fossilized fern plaque, a book about a an archaeologist who was also a spy (sigh, my dream job), a large petroglyph replica (which went to Michael) and the prize of the evening, an Anasazi corrugated pot replicated by Dr. Eric Blinman.  Replicating the exact way in which pottery was made by ancient puebloans, also known as Mesa Verde Pottery (prior to A.D. 1400) is an art which Eric and a few others have perfected.  I was honored to be the winning bidder!  Here is the pot (since it has a rounded bottom, I used my head-scarf as it's stand, a suggestion from Eric).

Corrugated Pot made by Dr. Eric Blinman

Another really huge highlight of the fundraiser was my discussion with the deputy-director of the OAS, Dr. Robert Dello-Russo who is also the lead archaeologist for the Water Canyon Paleoindian Site located in Socorro County, New Mexico. The site appears to date from 9,500 years ago (early Holocene) to around 13,000 years ago (late Pleistocene).  Robert told me he would welcome volunteers when they go back out which may be in the Spring and Fall of 2013. It's exciting to think about being in Colorado for the Greenlee Ruins dig (see May 2012 blog below) and then be in New Mexico for the Water Canyon project.  A dream come true for an amateur archaeologist!  The full article describing this site written by Robert is in the Fall 2012 issue of El Palacio Art, History, and Culture of the Southwest publication, pgs. 54-59.  

Santa Fe....draws one back over and over again.  After a month there I thought I had my fill as I was more than anxious to get home which I did finally on November 7, but now that I am home, I miss it and look forward to future trips!