We headed about 30 miles up the road to visit the Poeh (PO-eh) Cultural Center and Museum. This cultural center represented the small Pueblo of Pojoaque, pronounced Po-suwae-geh. You can visit their website at: https://poehcenter.org.
This is a small Pueblo of approximately 600, and was rekindled back in the 1930s. They are one of the six Northern Tewa-speaking Rio Grande Pueblos. It is believed that this Pueblo dates as far back as 500 AD. Their current reservation land consists of more than 13,000 acres.
This cultural center/museum is small, but packed with a lot of history and cultural information.
Pueblo of Pojoaque was a convergence point near the confluence of the Rio Nambe and Rio Tesuque. Pueblo tribes would gather to trade goods among the various pueblo communities. Some of the items they traded were turquoise, shells, clay, volcanic ash, and cotton.
The Pueblo culture saw change begin in 1598, when the Spaniards entered the area, though missionaries had arrived as early as 1540. The Spaniards saw the puebloan people as a forced farm labor force. The Spanish forced the Pueblos to convert to their religion (Catholicism), and build a labor economy creating surplus.
80 Years pass and the Pueblo Indians got fed up and revolted in 1680. A Medicine Man named Popé, of the Ohkay Owingeh pueblo, organized all the Pueblo leaders. The true meaning of "runner" applied here. A runner went from pueblo to pueblo circulating a calendar indicating the time in which the pueblos would take up arms. Excellent planning saw the defeat of the Spanish, and the pueblos returning back to their cultures.
Their culture is one of humility and reverence for "Mother Earth". This was indicated by the design of the museum.
The entry was elegant but simple, lets go inside.Where to start is a tough question.
The cultural center celebrates the return of pottery from their ancestors. The cultural center worked with the Smithsonian to bring the pottery of Tewa home.
Uvi Powa - You Have Arrived
The process began in 2015 with museum staff and Tewa representatives visiting Washington D.C. It took several years for the pottery to "come home".
The Pueblo people believe in relationships with pottery. When they arrived at the Smithsonian it took time to choose the right 100 pots that would travel back home. They believe that they can have conversations with the pots, identifying with their ancestors, not necessarily direct descendants.
Some of these pots sat in the archives of the Smithsonian for at least a hundred years.The pot was not just a pot, it was and is a way of life. Each vessel had/has a utilitarian purpose. Large pots usually stored clothing and blankets, pots for water, small pots to store seed, pots for cooking, and were used in ceremonies and cultural activities.
The potter and clay speak to one another, and a relationship is born.
TRADITIONAL TEWA CLOTHING
Tewa people are believed to have migrated from the Four Corners region early in the first millennium A.D. Arriving here they built and lived in the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde. Some of the larger villages lived in the Montezuma Valley area in what is now southwestern Colorado. The Puebloan Indians were in this region before the Navajo and Apache came in the 15th century. Besides the issues of draughts, grasshopper invasions, and pestilence, additional tribes caused some heartburn resulting in occasional conflicts. This was probably more prevalent during times of food shortages. Eventually the Puebloan people migrated down to the Rio Grande Valley itself.
SIDE NOTE: Tewa refers to a group of Pueblo peoples who speak the Tewa language and share the Pueblo culture.
Continuing to protect their culture is important to the Tewa, and one of the exhibits is the work of Kwee Wa VI Tuu, also known as Francesca Maestas. Francesca is a member of the Pueblo of Pojoaque, is Tewa, Navajo, and Cherokee.
(Photo courtesy of the Poeh Cultural Center and Museum)
She should now have her B.A. in ceramics from the Institute of American Indian Arts. she is very active in her Pueblo community. Lets move to some of her work.
The museum also shows a video talking about the importance of the relationship of the clay, pot, and potter, as told by several Pueblo tribal members.
Before entering the main and permanent exhibit there is a piece of pottery that was found and unique, but common to the culture...This is a Pueblo of Pojoaque storage jar found in a nearby irrigation ditch, buried. The jar had a flagstone lid as well, indicating that someone intended to reuse it. Hard to see are four bird symbols on the upper portion of the jar.Into to the main and permanent exhibit, what is called Nah Poeh Meng, translated from Tewa, meaning "The Continuous Path". The exhibit portrays Pueblo history from within the Pueblo worldview. The exhibit is broken into six rooms: Emergence, Ancient Period, Ancestral Period, Pre-European Contact, European Contact, and Contemporary Period.
Emergence:
Ancient Period:
Ancestral Period:
Pre-European Contact:
European Contact:
This final period was an opportunity to view a presentation on the "revolt" by the Pueblo people.
All-in-all, this was a very good learning experience.
From the museum we drove up to Bandelier National Monument to see some of the remaining dwellings of the Pueblo people.
DRIVING
We stopped at an overlook before getting to the monument.
The name of this overlook was Frijoles Canyon Overlook.
Through the canyon runs the Frijoles Creek. The other important aspect of the canyon is what it is made up of. Not far from this canyon sits a supervolcano that erupted several times millions of years ago. Each eruption was about 600 times more powerful than Mount St. Helen (1980). The eruptions spewed out so much ash that the layers were almost 100 feet thick. Here is the important part. The ash was compressed into rock known as "tuff", which is what most of the canyon is made of. This area is called the Valles Caldera, which is the collapsed cone of the supervolcano Jemez.
If you re-visit the photos on the way to the monument, you may notice the different layers of rock. One side of the Valles Caldera is known as the Pajarito Plateau, which was home for Native American for thousands of years - from the Ice Age hunters 10,000 years ago, to the first Pueblo people that arrived around 800 years ago. It is these dwelling that we would explore.
The lookout point talked about the fires that consumed the area. Hopefully you noticed I said fires, there were several devastating fires in the 1990s.
The red area was 1996, the yellow area was 1997.
Down in this valley was our next adventure. Our location was that clump of trees about center of the picture. Back in the car, and here we go.
While we're driving to the Visitor Center lets talk about the importance of the fires. History shows that there were lightning-strike fires every 5 to 12 years, encouraging plant and animal life. In the 1800s over grazing saw a loss of the fire carrying grasses, and the valley then became crowded with trees and shrubs, giving way to dead trees, branches, and needles. In the 20th century, fires were discouraged and all the flammable material continued to pile up. Then came the fires of 1996 and '97. The environment did recover quite nicely.
Here we are at the Visitor Center. The center had a small information museum. Remember I spoke earlier of "tuff" rock, lets take a closer look at it.
Class in Session:
In a volcanic environment many minerals and rocks can be found, such as Basalt, Pumice, Obsidian, and Tuff, in this region.
BASALT
Basalt is a dense, hard, black rock that comes from lava that oozes to the surface and cools.
Q: What did the Ancestral Pueblo people use it for?
A: Axe heads and pounding tools.
PUMICE
Pumice is a very light porous rock formed from gas-filled magma during some volcanic eruptions. Advantage: absorbs and holds water.
Q: What did the Ancestral Pueblo people use it for?
A: Agriculture; they would cover the soil to retain moisture.
OBSIDIAN
Obsidian is created when lava cools quickly through exposure to air or water. Because of its composition, it can be used to create sharp edges.
Q: What did the Ancestral Pueblo people use it for?
A: Spear points and arrowheads.
TUFF
Tuff is a pinkish-tan rock that is made from volcanic ash flows that consolidate into a thick layer of rock.
Q: What did the Ancestral Pueblo people use it for?
A: They used it as building blocks for houses; light weight and easy to carve.
Class dismissed.
From the visitor center I marched smartly, or just marched, to the cliff dwellings. What a day I chose to hike to the dwellings, the temperature was close to 100℉. Of course I had water with me. Fortunately the Forest Service made it easier for visitor to view the dwellings.
Before we start our journey:
On the hike to the dwellings:
LARGE KIVA (KEE-vah)
(UNDERGROUND STRUCTURE)
Kivas would have had a dome covering over it with an entrance/exit at the top. The dome would have been slightly above ground level and supported by six wooden pillars.
Large kivas were the center for religious and political life.
TAKEN FROM THE CLIFF DWELLINGS
TYUONYI (QU-weh-nee) PUEBLO
This was the Tyuonyi Pueblo from the ground.
WHAT THE PUEBLO MAY HAVE LOOKED LIKE
What I saw was what is left of the Pueblo that was occupied about 500 to 700 years ago. Tyuonyi had 400 rooms, and possibly stood two-stories high. There may have been 100 people living down here, with another 400 living in the cliffs. Their day-to-day life most likely consisted of grinding corn, chopping wood, herding turkeys, making pottery, all done outside.
Tyuonyi Pueblo is one of many in the area; the others are unexcavated, and will stay that way at the request of the Pueblo people, respecting their ancestors.
Onward I marched.
ONE OF THE HOMES ON THE HILL
I finally made it... I'm happy... I think.
GOTTA START SOMEWHERE
THE PUEBLO FROM ABOVE
For the adventurous visitor there were four homes that we were allowed to enter. I was adventurous to a point, and my point was the top of the ladder. Sorry, no pictures of the inside of this one; there are some later.
The next structure I showed you from afar, now we will see close-up.
This was a reconstruction, circa 1900, of what a home with a front on it may have looked like. The reconstruction was guided by the original foundation and rows of holes in the rock. The holes would have held vigas, roof beams.
Further learning of the dwelling indicates that the floors and walls would have been plastered with mud; the first floor would not have had doors or windows, and would have been entered from the roof.
NATURAL LANDSCAPE
The blackened walls gives the indication that this was where cooking was done.
YEAH!
This was the site of the Longhouse.
I only show the last photo because of the carving to the right of the window, a Native American swastika.
All down hill from here. The back side of the loop fortunately was mostly shaded all the way back to the visitor center, where I met up with Carol, and we drove home.
