Investigating Parajes: An Exploration of “Camping” Sites on the Camino Real

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

For three centuries, El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail served as the main wagon road transporting people and merchandise between the New Mexico colony and the interior of New Spain. Most archaeological investigations of this trail have focused on only two types of sites: actual trail segments, and associated camping areas known as “parajes”. Knowledge of these paraje sites comes mostly from Spanish colonial- and Mexican-period travel accounts, which name and briefly describe several camping areas regularly used by travelers in the long stretches between colonial settlements. Reconnaissance surveys along the trail have revealed a more complicated pattern of trail-related activity, however, with numerous sites that vary in scale, content, and date. This paper investigates the concept of parajes and presents a more nuanced way of thinking about the types of sites associated with travel.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32885