The Upland Agricultural Revolution of the Fourteenth Century

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Collaborative Archaeology at Picuris Pueblo: The New History" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper reports preliminary results from intensive surface mapping and test excavations of precolonial agricultural systems at Picuris Pueblo. Our work alongside collaborators from Picuris has uncovered one of the largest continuous agricultural systems in the northern Rio Grande region. After five field seasons of mapping we have documented a kilometers-long terraformed landscape designed to capture and control the flow of rainfall in a high-altitude, low-precipitation upland environment. Carbon dates from test excavations place the oldest parts of the systems in the tenth century, with more recent modifications occurring through the early colonial period. The most extensive landscape alterations appear to have occurred during the fourteenth century, at the onset of major economic change: namely, the development of the Plains-Pueblo macroeconomy. The people of Picuris, through their strategic location and longstanding relationships with Plains groups, were positioned to be key players in this new economic regime. Here, we build from an assessment of the morphology and hydrology of the Picuris field systems to reevaluate late precolonial economic systems, paying special attention to questions of labor organization, land tenure, and ecological stewardship.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Collaborative Archaeology at Picuris Pueblo: The New History   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39616.0