San Marcos Pueblo day trip

  • 13 Jun 2009
  • 8:00 AM - 3:59 PM
  • Meet at BLM Parking lot, Taos
San Marcos Pueblo day trip - Saturday, June 13th

 

Gary Grief is leading a tour to the San Marcos Pueblo in the Galisteo Basin on Saturday, June 13th.  Please contact Gary, harleygrief@TaosNet.com or 751-3265 if you wish to go on this tour.

 

Details:

1.      8:00 Meet at the BLM parking lot on Cruz Alta.

2.      8:30 Leave for the San Marcos Pueblo.

3.      Directions –

·         Take SH 64 and US 84 to 599 just north of Santa Fe

·         Take 599 to I25

·         Go west on I25 to SH 14(Less than 2 miles)

·         Go south on SH 14 to CR 44A(east San Marcos Road), near mile marker 36, turn left and we will meet the site steward. (at this point we are 4 miles north of Cerrillos).

4.      Bring sunscreen, hats, water, walking shoes and lunch.

5.      The pueblo is rather flat, so walking will be easy, and you will not be more than five minutes from your car.

6.      We should get to the site around 10:30 or 11:00, and the tour takes about 3 hours. We will break for lunch around 12:00 and finish the tour after lunch.

7.      There is little or no shade at the site.

 


San Marcos Pueblo

San Marcos Pueblo, inhabited between AD 1300-1680, was a major trade center for the region. Roomblocks with more than 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 usually open to the public.


Taos Archaeological Society

PO Box 143

Taos, NM, 87571

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