Understanding Cahokia—an indigenous city opposite modern-day St. Louis—is assisted by comparing it to Chaco. Both developed at about the same time, with major cultural and political shifts at both dated to ~1040 CE. Cahokia, however, appears more similar in layout to civic-ceremonial centers to the south in the Mississippi valley and Mexico, with great mounds, […]

Contemporary Oaxacan cuisine holds iconic status, in a nation already known—and even celebrated in UNESCO’s List of Intangible Heritage—for gastronomy. Countless festivals each year are devoted to individual ingredients and special preparations, including chapulines, enchilados, mezcal, quesillo, tejate, and at least seven moles. Though the origins of specific recipes may be disputed, archaeological investigations have […]

Linda Cordell was extraordinarily active in southwestern archaeology during her entire career. She augmented her own robust research by also investing her resources in the work of others. Because of this, her influence extended well beyond her own students to those of many of her colleagues. One of her last personal endeavors was working with […]

There has been recent reporting of the discovery of what appear to be traces of sixteenth-century European presence in extreme south-central and southeastern Arizona. As a result, assertions have been made that those traces are indications of an outpost of the Coronado Expedition, called Suya in the surviving documentary record and San Gerónimo III by […]

Dr. Deni Seymour will talk about her work over the last few years during which she and her team discovered 17 sites left behind in southern Arizona by the Coronado Expedition of 1539-1542. The discovery of a Spanish townsite, overnight camps, and travel routes have revolutionized our understanding of the expedition - where they went, […]

Doug Preston and Walter Nelson rode cross country, not following modern roads or trails, sleeping ‘in the saddle’ and enduring some of the harshest deserts and roughest mountain terrain in the United States. Forced to battle extremes of heat and cold, impenetrable mesquite thickets, bad water, rattlesnakes, flash floods and paralyzing drought, they nonetheless found […]

The possible sources of turquoise found throughout Mesoamerica have long drawn scholarly attention. Although the southwestern United States contains several major sources, turquoise also occurs in Mexico. Can researchers determine the source of turquoise incorporated in thousands of Mesoamerican artifacts? Dr. Tim Maxwell Dr. Tim Maxwell is Archaeologist, Emeritus Director, Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum […]

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 […]

The huge exploration led by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado was the first contact between Ancestral Rio Grande Pueblos and outsiders. Its intended goals failed and the expedition spent the whole winter of 1540-1541 camped in village that was taken over from Southern Tiwa residents. Distrust and strife broke out into outright hostilities called the Tiguex […]