The Process Of Cultural Interaction In The US Southwest

University Of Massachusetts Boston, Dorchester MA

Investigators

Abstract

Dr. Heather Trigg and colleagues from the University of Massachusetts Boston will explore how colonizers adapt to new social and physical environments by investigating the establishment of the Spanish colony of New Mexico during the 17th century. The project examines the way early colonial Spanish households functioned, focusing particularly on how colonists incorporated indigenous Pueblo peoples into household activities, and how they made a living in the Southwest's challenging environment. Spanish colonizers introduced new plants, animals, and agricultural practices into this region, and these and later introductions have had a dramatic effect on the Southwest's landscape. We know little about Spanish household activities during this period or their impacts on the environment. Because all written records held within the colony were destroyed during the Pueblo Rebellion in the late 17th century, archaeology is the primary way that the foundations of Hispanic society in the American Southwest can be understood. The results of this investigation are relevant beyond the region as the Spanish colonization of New Mexico provides a case study for examining the development of relationships between colonizers and indigenous peoples. The research contributes to an understanding of power differentials, cultural pluralism, and the interplay between culture and the environment. The majority of 17th-century Spanish colonizers lived in rural ranches, making the activities at these locations particularly important. Previous studies of the region's colonization have focused on Pueblo peoples' reactions to this colonization. Thus, Spanish households are an important but underutilized source of information about colonization processes. The research focuses on several questions. What were the colonists' economic strategies? How did they incorporate native peoples' practices and knowledge into these activities? What were the colonists' relationships to the environment? The researchers explore these issues by conducting archaeological excavations and obtaining environmental samples from one of the most important early colonial Spanish sites in New Mexico. The types and distribution of artifacts, such as ceramics, will be used to explore the identity of the people contributing to the household and the types of activities that they engaged. With biological data, such as pollen, researchers will investigate the relationships colonizers had with the environment, focusing particularly on changes resulting from the introduction of plow agriculture and grazing livestock on this marginal environment. The project will provide for the training of graduate students in all aspects of the research. The researchers have developed a partnership with El Rancho de las Golondrinas, a living history museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico that is dedicated to Hispanic history and culture. Information developed through the project will be made available to the general public in the form of exhibits, lectures, and docent training at the museum.