Space and Architecture at LA 20,000, a 17th Century Spanish Ranch

Summary

Domestic space both reflects the social order and contributes to its construction. In early colonial New Mexico, houses and other architecture created arenas in which social interactions among Spanish colonizers and indigenous peoples played out and ethnogenesis took place. Moreover Spanish economic production was household based, occurring primarily at rural ranches and mission compounds; consequently, the built environment at households also framed economic activity. Here, we explore the architecture at LA 20,000, a 17th-century Spanish ranch located southwest of Santa Fe. LA 20,000 was the home of colonizers and their workers and slaves, and produced basic subsistence goods. In this poster we reconstruct the physical layout of the ranch, exploring the creation of the architecture, the buildings’ functions, and remodeling and destruction episodes. Archaeological investigations of this site have identified a series of corrals, a large multi-room domestic structure, a large barn, and other buildings. Artifacts and environmental samples complete the picture of economic activities taking place at the site. As the social context of cross-cultural interactions on a micro-scale, the physical context of this site was an important location for the exchange of information among Spanish colonizers and indigenous peoples.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21711