Homesteading the Taos Plateau

Pikes Peak Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society’s April event

Homesteading the Taos Plateau: Connecting the Past to the Present with Dr. Scott Ingram, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Colorado College

How do linear rock alignments, shallow reservoirs, and a log cabin inspire a group of undergraduate students to make a profound discovery?

The context of the work is the Taos Plateau, the modern-day Rio Grande del Norte National Monument (northwest of Taos, New Mexico), managed by the BLM. Homesteaded by Hispanos and Euro-Americans soon after World War I, the Taos Plateau was a late manifestation of the amended Homesteading Act of 1862.

The story of homesteading this arid and starkly beautiful landscape has been virtually unrecorded.

We are investigating: Who lived in this place, when and how did settlement occur, why did people settle here without perennial water sources, and what happened to this community?

Our methods include dendroarchaeological and artifact analysis, documentary records, and interviews.

One can sometimes wonder when recording archaeological sites if the work is important, if anyone will really care. Our discovery answered those questions for us.

An archaeological anthropologist, Dr. Scott Ingram is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Colorado College.

One of his foremost research objectives is to advance understanding of depopulations and migrations in the North American Southwest, especially during the dramatic population decline of the 1300 to 1500 CE period.

He earned both his MA in Anthropology and his doctorate in Anthropology at Arizona State University.