Insider Archaeology Tour at Pueblo San Marcos

Join us for a tour of Pueblo San Marcos with Dr. Kari Schleher, Director of the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at UNM, along with Archaeologist Tamara Stewart, the Southwest Projects Coordinator for The Archaeological Conservancy and Assistant Editor of American Archaeology. One of the largest pre-Columbian settlements in North America, Pueblo San Marcos was occupied between A.D. 1250 and the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, during which time it grew to an estimated 2,000 adobe rooms in 22 room blocks enclosing ten to twelve plazas and including the remains of an early 17th century Spanish Colonial mission and metallurgical smelting features. The site remains highly significant to Pueblo people today, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and has been established as a permanent archaeological preserve in southern Santa Fe County.

This fascinating tour will explore some of the exciting recent research conducted here and the important role the site played in the Galisteo Basin and beyond. A short, easy hike will take participants around the site’s highlights and includes walking on uneven terrain. We will meet at the Lone Butte General Store parking lot nearby on south NM 14 and carpool to the site, bringing appropriate hiking gear and water, including trekking poles as needed. Visitors are asked to be respectful of this ancestral site and, while encouraged to pick up and examine artifacts, to leave all cultural remains where they were found.