Exploring the Social and Physical Landscapes of Colonial New Mexico

Author(s): Heather Trigg; Kyle W. Edwards

Year: 2015

Summary

Reshaping the settlement landscape is a significant aspect of the colonial encounter in that it provided the ecological context for social interactions. In the American Southwest, the Spaniards’ introduction of Eurasian plants and animals as well as new land use practices had a profound effect on the physical and cultural environment. We use palynological data from a 500-year period that illustrates both the impact of indigenous Pueblo peoples’ engagement with the pre-colonial landscape as well as subsequent changes in the La Cienega area southwest of Santa Fe. Combined with macrobotanical evidence from nearby Spanish colonial sites, we use the palynological information to explore the origins of landscape changes that relate to the Spaniards introductions of crops, weeds, and livestock during the 17th and 18th centuries and their engagement with nearby Pueblo peoples. 

Cite this Record

Exploring the Social and Physical Landscapes of Colonial New Mexico. Heather Trigg, Kyle W. Edwards. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Seattle, Washington. 2015 ( tDAR id: 434152)

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Keywords

Temporal Keywords
Colonial

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 520