Santa
Fe Food Heritage: First
Americans
Eating
History of Santa Fe | Native
Americans | Colonial
| Territorial/Statehood
|
| Food Santa
Fe: guide to organizations promoting
food awareness |
Native American
Food Heritage Sites & Events in
Santa Fe
Pueblo Hondo, circa 1300.
"Sometime during
the era of the Anazazi, a number of
stone and adobe villages sprang up in
the Santa Fe area. The largest of these,
alled Ogapoge or Kuapoge (Dancing Ground
of the Sun), once occupied part of Santa
Fe. Ogapoge and other settlements around
Santa Fe were abandoned around 1425,
during the worst drought in a thousand
years."
(The Santa Fe & Taos Book
by Sharon Niederman)
Pueblo Pindi
(Turkey Town)
Excavation at Pueblo Pindi revealing
wild turkey pens.
Before there were hooved
animals and scratching chickens in what
is now New Mexico there were turkeys,
in abundance. The turkeys in flocks
of thousands raised by the Anasazi in
pueblos across the high desert provided
food, feathered clothing and even farming
assistance to their keepers. According
to researcher Sam Hitt, ancient turkey
husbandry was widespread in New Mexico.
.
The birds pecked away at grasshoppers
and other pests in the natives’
agricultural fields. During hard times,
the hardy, adaptable gobblers foraged
on berries and pinon nuts.
Archaeological research at the Arroyo
Hondo Pueblo to the south of Santa Fe
indicates that the people mended the
broken legs of turkeys in their care
and also tucked them away in sheltered
pens at night. The ruined Pueblo Pindi
( Tewa for turkey) near the Santa Fe
river was so named by researchers because
of the numerous turkey bones and shells
found there.
The turkey tradition
lives on somewhat in the traditional
turkey whistles still used in Zuni ceremonies.
Ancient Pueblo burial site being examined
prior to a new bank being built on the
site.
Controversial construction project for
Santa Fe's new Convention Center which
is also an Indian burial site.
Sun Mountain
Gathering
The Annual
Sun Mountain Gathering is a
free, family-friendly event celebrating
more than 12,000 years of New Mexico's
cultural heritage. Experience New Mexico's
traditional cultures and history through
demonstrations, talks, exhibits, music,
and family activities. This festival
features entertainment on Milner Plaza,
and hands-on activities including traditional
games, spear throwing, and pottery and
jewelry making. Demonstrations of ancient
technologies include arrow making, flint
knapping, weaving and dyeing, pottery
firing, and cooking with hot rocks and
in micaceous pots. Interactive exhibits
include archaeology, the heritage gardens
and reconstructions of ancestral Pueblo
field houses, and the botanical trail
featuring native plant specimens. Learn
more about Sun Mountain Gathering here.
Atlatl throwing range... experts introduce
visitors to this ancient hunting technique
The atlatl (pronounced ät-lät-ul
or more authentically with two syllables
['a.t?at?]), or "spear thrower",
is a tool that uses leverage to achieve
greater velocity in spear-throwing,
and includes a bearing surface which
allows the user to temporarily store
elastic energy during the throw. It
consists of a shaft with a hook, in
which the butt of the spear rests. It
is held near the end farthest from the
cup, and the spear is thrown by the
action of the upper arm and wrist. A
well-made atlatl can readily achieve
ranges of greater than 100 meters.
Collections
of ancient and modern atlatls are on
display.
The atlatl has been
used by early Native Americans as well.
It seems to have been introduced during
the immigration across the Bering Land
Bridge, a wide section of exposed seabed
that connected Asia and North America
during the last Ice Age. The word atlatl
is derived from a Nahuatl (the Aztec
language) word for "water thrower,"
as it was most commonly used for fishing.
The Aztecs reinvented the atlatl after
the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores
in their lands and they were used extensively
during the resulting war. History shows
that the Spanish feared the Aztec atlatl
above all other weapons. Many unfortunate
Spaniards were surprised to find the
power of the weapon could easily penetrate
Spanish metal armor, with the dart often
passing completely through the unlucky
target. Inuit and the tribes of the
Northwest Coast utilized atlatls in
historical times as well. Complete wooden
spearthrowers have been found on dry
sites in the western USA, and in waterlogged
environments in Florida and Washington.
Learn
more about atlatls modern and ancient
here.
Find out about the World Atlatl
Association here.
Native Tech and Art
website here.
"Waffle"
gardening demonstrated at Sun Mountain
Gathering
Prior to the coming of the Europeans,
the Zuni and other Pueblo people were
skilled and successful farmers. Their
villages and fields were situated in
the best areas for cultivation of their
crops. They originally grew corn, beans
and squash. Later, they added European
crops such as wheat and peaches. One
type of garden they cultivated was the
"waffle garden". Waffle gardens
were built close to the village and
the river and were a type of "kitchen
garden".
Learn more about waffle gardening and
a project to help Zuni children learn
about their farming traditions here.
Pueblo Field
House
At the beginning of
the Ancient Pueblo People’s occupation
of the Southwest, the first structures
were known as pithouses. These were
one-family dwelling sites with entrance
to the pithouse from the roof. These
were mostly occupied year round. The
Ancient Pueblo People were an agricultural
people. In order to care for their fields,
they built field houses at or within
close proximity to their fields. These
field houses as they were known were
usually located some distance from the
pithouse. When the Ancient Pueblo People
farmed their land, they used the field
house for shelter, storage, and to denote
ownership of the field they worked.
Learn more about Pueblo shelters including
field houses here.
The
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
The museum was founded
by Mary Cabot Wheelwright, a wealthy
woman from Boston, and Hastiin Klah,
a Navajo medicine man. Built in 1937,
the museum is shaped like an eight-sided
Navajo hooghan. Changing exhibitions
feature historic and contemporary Native
American art and culture, with an emphasis
on Southwestern tribes. The Wheelwright
Museum's collection, which is not on
display, originally focused on Navajo
ceremony; today it includes textiles,
jewelry, baskets, pottery, Navajo chant
recordings, and two-dimensional art
created by members of many American
Indian tribes. Smaller galleries spotlight
individual artists or contain items
related to the main show. Many free
events are held at the museum throughout
the year, including storytelling, children's
reading hours, lectures, docent-led
gallery tours, and talks about Native
American art.
Visit the museum's
website here.
Continue
to the next part of this exhibit.
Click
on the images below to visit all the
New Mexico Food Heritage Exhibits.
