NEW MEXICO HISTORY - THE ANCIENTS

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Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
      Gina Heffernan - ginagale@bigfoot.com
      June 18, 2000

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Native Americans

	The first discoverer of New Mexico was Sandia Cave Man, his remains were found in a 
cave in the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque. No skeletal remains were uncovered, but 
evidence of a fur clad, meat-cooking, tool using man were dug from the yellow ochre dust in 
the cave. The remains have been dated at 25,000 years old.
	Another discovery in an arroyo near Folsom gave us Folsom Man who lived in a lush 
lake and forest covered environment and hunted the giant bison, mammoths, sloths, and four 
toed horses which became extinct in North America about 10,000 years ago. Sandia Cave Man and 
Folsom Man were the ancestors of the people who became known as Native Americans.
	In the 10,000 year interval between these men and the European discovery of North 
America, the climate of New Mexico changed drastically. Rainfall lessened, rivers narrowed or 
dried up, and the prehistoric beasts disappeared. By the time European explorers reached New 
Mexico, it was largely desert.
	During this period the land was home to a hunter-gatherer. He found little meat and 
survived largely on his ability to find edible vegetation. He began hoarding seeds to plant 
and then had to stay to harvest the crop. He put down roots and built permanent homes.
	These first homes were circular pits with a crude roof. The mounds that cover these 
ancient homes are found all over the southwest United States and neighboring Mexico. In New 
Mexico they are concentrated along the San Juan and Rio Grande Rivers.
	Perhaps the most well known of New Mexico’s peoples are the pueblo builders. The 
forebears of these people were the Salado, which means salty and is the name given to the 
river in Arizona where they originated. The Salado built their homes with adobe, pouring it 
in layers, then plastering it with caliche, a hard native lime. They wandered far and are 
thought to have settled on the Galisteo in New Mexico.
	Next came the Anasazi, Navajo for The Ancient Ones. By A.D. 1000, the Anasazi were 
living in cities to rival those of Europe. The Anasazi lived at Mesa Verde, Aztec, and Chaco 
Canyon. Mesa Verde was abandoned during a drought about 1276 which lasted for the remainder 
of the century.  The people probably left a few at a time seeking different destinations. 
Some probably were the ancestors of the Hopi and some may have joined another Anasazi group 
at the San Juan Valley.
	The latter group built a city which was mistakenly called Aztec by later explorers. 
The city thrived, although not on such a grand scale as the one at Mesa Verde and gradually 
the people began to drift westward during another drought. Many of the inhabitants of Aztec 
moved on to Chaco Canyon which is the oldest of the Anasazi cities.
	Small houses line the Chaco River for about thirty miles and there are remains of 
splendid communal dwellings as well. Chaco Canyon’s largest ruin is Pueblo Bonito, with 800 
rooms and 30 kivas, the largest apartment house ever constructed until 1882 in New York City. 
The Anasazi lived at Chaco Canyon for many generations and were probably driven away, again, 
by drought.
	After the Anasazi, there were many more native peoples in New Mexico, from the 
builders of simple single room houses to the planners and engineers of the fantastic 
apartment style dwellings at Puyé and Rito de los Frijoles (Bean Creek). The natives of New 
Mexico were a diverse group from the peaceful permanent Pueblo to the fierce nomadic Apache. 
We can still see the influence of the Navajo in the "Southwest" style of decor which was the 
rage in the 1980s and 1990s.
	New Mexico has the oldest known settlements in the New World and is also home to 
several top testing laboratories for modern man. From the old to the new and from serenity 
to war, New Mexico has a colorful and interesting history with something for everyone.