Climate, Demography, Ethnicity, and Territory: Setting the Stage for European Colonization – Eric Blinman

European Colonization coincided with a dynamic period within the Native American cultural landscape of Northern New Mexico. Sequential adaptations to a series of climate changes included migrations, displacements of communities, successes and failures of the agricultural economies, and conflict and resolution among an ethnically diverse population.

Eric Blinman began studying archaeology in 1967, eventually getting degrees in anthropology from UC Berkeley and Washington State University. He joined the Museum of New Mexico’s archaeology program in 1988 as a laboratory supervisor for projects in the Four Corners region of New Mexico. In 1992-1993, Eric was introduced to Galisteo Basin archaeology by Tim Maxwell and John Ware as a field conservation specialist, working to document perishable ceremonial artifacts that had been encountered by Forrest Fenn’s excavations at Pueblo San Lazaro. Those were also the years that the Office of Archaeological Studies (OAS) edited and published Christina Singleton Mednick’s “San Cristobal: Voices and Visions of the Galisteo Basin.” Tim’s relationship with the Singleton family resulted in more than three decades of access to Galisteo Basin archaeology by OAS archaeologists, including Eric. He has brought his knowledge of Four Corners pottery, ceramic technology, paleoenvironments, and cultural affiliation studies to the problems and potentials of the complex history of the Galisteo Basin.