Anicent Pueblo People blog

Caprio, Jason

10 November, 2013

Ancient Pueblo People blog

            The Ancient Pueblo people are known to be the first to arrive at El Morro. They first lived near the Zuni River around 1200 AD for about 75 years. They moved to the top of El Morro roughly around 1275. There isn’t a lot of information about the Ancient Pueblo people or why they chose the top of El Morro for their new village, but there are bits and pieces as to their culture and why they chose El Morro.

First off, they could have moved due to the heat and the droughts that come and go. If they ran out of the only close by water source they had, they would have to go out and search for another source until the previous one can gain more water. Another possibility to consider is that they wanted to form a giant community instead of multiple small ones and the top of El Morro seemed like an excellent spot to be. Reasons for wanting to form a large community could be for defense against an opposing tribe, which made the top of El Morro a more likely spot because they would have a fine advantage. The last possibility could be their practices. They may have chosen the top of El Morro because they would feel closer to the gods that they worshipped. In the layout of their housing there are rooms that are known to have spiritual practices held there.

            There are a few sings of understanding the Ancient Pueblo peoples’ culture. Depicted in their drawings at the base of the mountain are numerous petroglyphs of animals and what are to be known as gods. It is difficult to understand exactly what they are trying to message to others in their drawings because the culture is so old it is unreadable. Even others like the Zuni people, who are the Descendants of these Ancient Puebloans, can barely understand their description. There are times when Pueblo Indians can recognize a god or two, but that’s the closest they can get.

            Though there is not a lot of information about these people, they’re still quite significant to the tradition of carving signs of possible residence or visitation of El Morro.