Correction - Leaving Home: Understanding Prehistoric Population Relocation in the Taos Region

May 10, 2016, 7 PM - at the Fort Burgwin Dining Hall on the SMU-in-Taos Campus, Hwy 518, 6 miles south of Talpa. 

Where: SMU-in-Taos - Fort Burgwin, 6580 Highway 518, Ranchos de Taos

Speaker:  Mike Adler, Executive Director, SMU-in-Taos Campus, Assoc. Professor, Dept of Anthropology,Southern Methodist University

Topic: Leaving Home: Understanding Prehistoric Population Relocation in the Taos Region

Past archaeological interpretations of village disuse and relocation of village occupants to other settlements in the Taos region have considered resource shortfalls, external conflict and ritual reorganization as possible explanations.  In this talk I will consider to what extent, if any, these explanations have to do with the 14th-century departure of ancestral Pueblo peoples from Pot Creek Pueblo and associated destruction of nearly half of the settlement by intense burning of domestic and ritual rooms at the settlement.  One of the ongoing questions is why, at Pot Creek Pueblo, was there a significant destruction of food resources, namely the burning of corn storage rooms.  In addition to discussions of intravillage conflict, this talk will also consider the possible role of food-related issues, particularly food-borne toxins, in the destruction of food resources and relocation of village populations during the late pre-contact (AD 1200-1540) period in the Northern Rio Grande region.

View Mike's VC

Join other TAS members and our speaker for Dinner at 5PM

Guadalajara Grill South, 1384 Paseo del Pueblo Sur, Taos, across from Ace Hardware.

Arrive between 5:00 and 5:30 PM, place your order at the front, and take your number to the back room.  No reservations needed.