Pot Creek Cultural Site is an abandoned 13th century pueblo located on private land owned by

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , ...

and on public Carson National Forest land in

Taos County, New Mexico Taos County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 32,937. Its county seat is Taos. The county was formed in 1852 as one of the original nine counties in New Mexico Territory. Taos County compris ...

Geography

Located within the Rio Grande valley and surrounded by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the site is at in elevation. Its sources of water were the Rio Grande del Rancho, also known as the Little Rio Grande, and Rio del la Olla, also known as Pot Creek.Catrina B. Witley. May 2012
''Evidence of Violent Conflict in Males from Pot Creek.''
Landscapes of Violence. Retrieved July 23, 2014.

Archaeological site

The site was a large adobe pueblo consisting of a large plaza, great

kiva A kiva is a space used by Puebloans for rites and political meetings, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, "kiva" means a large room that is circular and underground ...

, and small plazas with multiple-storied blocks of rooms and smaller kivas. Its height of occupation was between 1260 and 1320 CE. The pueblo is believed to have been similar to Taos Pueblo and had about 400 rooms on the ground floor for storage, with additional rooms in the multiple-storied dwellings used as dwellings.Pot Creek Cultural Site.
Carson National Forest. Four Corners Geotourism. Retrieved July 23, 2014. It is estimated that the pueblo was occupied for about three generations, with its peak population about 1310. Around 1318 a great kiva was under construction, but it was never completed. It is believed that the pueblo was abandoned about 1320, at which time the southern portion of the site was destroyed by fire. Residents moved to nearby

Picuris Picuris Pueblo (; Tiwa: P'įwweltha ’ī̃wːēltʰà is a historic pueblo in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. It is also a census-designated place (CDP) and a federally recognized tribe of Native American Pueblo people. The 2010 censu ...

and

Taos Pueblo Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking (Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are considered to be one of the oldest ...

s. The pueblo people lived primarily on a diet of corn, squash and beans that they grew. They also ate bison, local animals and wild plants. The made their own pottery. Gray pottery was used for cooking. They also decorated black-on-white pottery vessels and made tools from stone and animal bones. The site has been studied by

for more than 50 years.

Carson National Forest site

The portion of the pueblo located on Carson National Forest is open to visitors from June to September. It is about 50 yards from a parking area on Highway 518 at milepost 66.4 and has a picnic area and restrooms.High Road to Toas Trail
NewMexico.org Retrieved July 23, 2014. The one-mile loop trail has signs that interpret the lifestyle of the pueblo residents and leads to a reproduction of a pueblo room and a kiva.

Gallery

File:Pot Creek Trail Map.JPG, Pot Creek Trail Map File:Pot Creek Trail.JPG, Pot Creek Trail File:Pot Creek Pueblo Room and Kiva.JPG, Pot Creek Pueblo Room and Kiva File:Pot Creek Sign 2.JPG, Pot Creek Sign

Notes

References

External links

Carson National Forest: Pot Creek Cultural Site

Southern Methodist University: Pot Creek Pueblo

{{authority control Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century Dwellings of the Pueblo peoples Tiwa Puebloans History of Taos County, New Mexico Native American history of New Mexico Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area Archaeological sites in New Mexico Puebloan buildings and structures Ruins in the United States Carson National Forest Southern Methodist University Pueblos in New Mexico