Pueblito Tour
Join the New Mexico State Land Office and the San Juan County Museum in a tour of two of the spectacular pueblitos in northwest New Mexico. They are both located in the Dinétah – the ancestral Navajo homeland in the vicinity of Navajo Reservoir. It is within this area that the Navajo creation story and many of their individual clan origins and migrations occurred. Tour participants will have the opportunity to visit two of the finest examples of pueblito architecture: Old Fort Ruin and Three Corn Ruin, both of which are on trust land. By special arrangement with the Museum, their Director Larry Baker will lead this tour for the State Land Office, assisted by David Eck, Trust Land Archaeologist.
Old Fort Ruin (LA 1869) exhibits classic examples of architectural forms typifying Navajo habitations of the Gobernador Phase (from around A.D. 1700 to 1775), including forked-stick hogans, sweatlodges, and masonry pueblito construction. Most construction appears to have occurred between A.D. 1746 and 1753. Twelve or more ground-floor masonry rooms are located within an enclosing wall, along with the remains of seven forked-stick hogans. The enclosing wall still rises to the height of two meters in many sections, providing nearly an acre of interior protected space for the habitation structures. The site is located along the edge of a mesa overlooking a deep canyon, with defensible access routes that have been strongly fortified with roofed passageways.
Three Corn Ruin (LA 1871) is strikingly situated atop an isolated sandstone massif (mesita) along the margin of a deep canyon. Its name is derived from a series of petroglyphs at the foot of the massif depicting three corn plants. This pueblito site is also representative of the Gobernador Phase, although there is no evidence for occupation strictly contemporary with that of Old Fort Ruin. Construction at Three Corn Ruin appears to have occurred in two episodes – one in the mid-A.D. 1710s, and another in the late 1720s and early 1730s. Atop the mesita are three masonry room blocks comprising a minimum of 13 rooms, along with two forked-stick hogans and a defensive perimeter wall at cliff’s edge. Access to the mesita was via a log ladder and a roofed passageway.
Old Fort Ruin (LA 1869) exhibits classic examples of architectural forms typifying Navajo habitations of the Gobernador Phase (from around A.D. 1700 to 1775), including forked-stick hogans, sweatlodges, and masonry pueblito construction. Most construction appears to have occurred between A.D. 1746 and 1753. Twelve or more ground-floor masonry rooms are located within an enclosing wall, along with the remains of seven forked-stick hogans. The enclosing wall still rises to the height of two meters in many sections, providing nearly an acre of interior protected space for the habitation structures. The site is located along the edge of a mesa overlooking a deep canyon, with defensible access routes that have been strongly fortified with roofed passageways.
Three Corn Ruin (LA 1871) is strikingly situated atop an isolated sandstone massif (mesita) along the margin of a deep canyon. Its name is derived from a series of petroglyphs at the foot of the massif depicting three corn plants. This pueblito site is also representative of the Gobernador Phase, although there is no evidence for occupation strictly contemporary with that of Old Fort Ruin. Construction at Three Corn Ruin appears to have occurred in two episodes – one in the mid-A.D. 1710s, and another in the late 1720s and early 1730s. Atop the mesita are three masonry room blocks comprising a minimum of 13 rooms, along with two forked-stick hogans and a defensive perimeter wall at cliff’s edge. Access to the mesita was via a log ladder and a roofed passageway.
