Living on the Edge: Uncovering Quotidian Life of the Eighteenth-Century Land Grant Community of San Miguel de Carnué

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Hill People: New Research on Tijeras Canyon and the East Mountains" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Following the approval of their application for a community land grant east of Albuquerque in 1763, several New Mexico families of diverse origin ventured into the Tijeras Canyon in hopes of improving their status by managing lands in this colonial buffer zone. The constant threat of Apache raids, however, meant the initial plaza-centered settlement of San Miguel de Carnué (LA 12924) lasted only few years (1763–1771), leaving minimal historical evidence of life in the village. This paper explores interactions between the past residents of San Miguel de Carnué and the surrounding environment, using paleoethnobotanical samples collected during the 2022 New Mexico State University (NMSU) archaeological field school. Because the paleoethnobotanical remains resulted from routine activities such as wood/fuel harvesting and food preparation/consumption, they shed light on several aspects of quotidian life at this eighteenth-century community that are otherwise lacking in the historical record.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Hill People: New Research on Tijeras Canyon and the East Mountains   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36196.0