The Peopling of Bandelier

Robert P. Powers, National Park Service

Few visitors to stunning Frijoles Canyon in Bandelier National Monument realize that its ancestral Pueblo ruins tell but a small part of the complex archaeological story of the Pajarito Plateau. In this slide illustrated talk, I will describes Frijoles’ place in the prehistory of the Plateau, emphasizing the results of recent research conducted by a variety of archaeologists, many of whom are contributors to The Peopling of Bandelier 

This research shows that the Plateau was first settled by immigrant Puebloan farmers in the late A.D. 1100s. Population grew rapidly as a result of continued migration, probably from the modern Four Corners area. Competition for limited resources—wild plants, animals, and farmland—quickly became a source of tension among the thousands of colonists. At least in part to alleviate this conflict, settlers began to construct large, multi-storied pueblos with extensive surrounding territories reserved for the use of community members. Patterns in the distribution of everyday items such as stone tools and pottery suggest that ultimately Frijoles Canyon became a boundary separating ancestral Pueblo Tewa and Keres territories.  Nonetheless, trade and travel were aided by an extensive Plateau-wide trail network. 

Increasingly dry and perhaps cool climatic conditions in the 1400s and 1500s, exacerbated by over two centuries of  heavy use of Plateau resources forced the abandonment of many large mesa top pueblos in the late 1400s, and a retreat by the remaining Pueblo inhabitants to a few oases, like Frijoles Canyon, with dependable water. These havens remained the homes of the Pajaritians until the mid-to-late 1500s, when both Keres and Tewa moved to lower elevation areas along the Rio Grande.  Although they no longer live on the Plateau, both the Keres and Tewa retain strong practical and spiritual ties with their ancestral Pajarito homeland, using it for hunting, gathering, ceremonies, and as a source of inspiration

Biographical Note

Robert P. Powers is a National Park Service archaeologist in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As a member of the Chaco Project in the 1970s and early 1980s, he conducted research at Chacoan outliers, and helped implement legislation to protect and preserve key Chacoan sites. Beginning in 1985, Bob directed the Bandelier Archaeological Survey, the first comprehensive study of Bandelier National Monument’s thousands of archaeological sites. He has also managed archaeological surveys of Natural Bridges National Monument, Pecos National Historical Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and El Malpais National Monument. Bob is currently conducting research for his doctoral dissertation and is a member of the Galisteo Basin Archaeological Sites Protection Act planning team. He is the editor of the new book, The Peopling of Bandelier: New Insights from the Archaeology of the Pajarito Plateau, published by the School of American Research Press.

The P/T Colloquium is
typically held each
Thursday, 3:45–5:00 PM.
Refreshments are served
at 3:15 PM.