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    The High Road to Taos

    Thursday, January 23, 2025 at 4:30 PM until 5:30 PMCentral Standard Time UTC -06:00

    Virtual Lecture Series

    Plains-Pueblo Interaction between the 14th to 18th Centuries

    Dr. Stephen M. Perkins
    Associate Professor of Anthropology
    Department of Sociology, Oklahoma State University

    Pecos National Historic Site - Ruins of Pecos Pueblo; The foreground contains the remnants of Puebloan structures. On the ground, there is an intersection of earthen bricks, creating four quadrants. Behind this, are 3-4" high walls, which sit along the intersecting grid. The ruins sit atop a hill overlooking a large valley vista and partly cloudy sky.

    This presentation outlines the social and economic relations between the Puebloan peoples of New Mexico’s greater Rio Grande Valley with Native peoples of the Southern High Plains of Oklahoma and Texas. In the 13th century, food insecurity related to climate change forced Southwestern peoples of the upper San Juan region to migrate, many settling in Taos, Picurís, Pecos, and other “Eastern” pueblos. Situated on a frontier, these sedentary, agriculturally-based towns encountered and developed social and economic ties with a variety of nomadic, bison-hunting peoples of the Southern High Plains. As will be discussed, dynamic relations ensued, involving a succession of Indigenous peoples, leading to the development of a complex regional borderland.

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