Native American Settlements
Human occupation of New Mexico stretches back at least 11,000 years to the Clovis culture of hunter-gatherers. They left evidence of their campsites and stone tools. After the invention of agriculture, the land was inhabited by the Ancient Pueblo Peoples, who built houses out of stone or adobe bricks. They experienced a Golden Age around AD 1000, but climate change led to migration and cultural evolution. From those people arose the historic Pueblo peoples who lived primarily along the few major rivers of the . The most important rivers are the Rio Grande, the Pecos, the Canadian, the San Juan, and the Gila.
PREHISTORIC NEW MEXICANS
| CULTURE OR GROUP | TIME | LOCATION FOUND | IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clovis | 9200 BC | Eastern Plains | Hunted big game |
| Folsom | 8200 BC | American Southwest | Hunted big game |
| Desert Culture I | 6000 to 2000 BC | American Southwest | Hunted small game; gathered seeds. nuts, and berries |
| Desert Culture II | 2000 to 500 BC | American Southwest | Developed early gardening skills, baskets, and milling stones |
| Mogollon | 300 BC to AD 1150 | West-central and southwestern New Mexico | Farmed crops, made pottery, and lived in pit house villages |
| Anasazi: Basketmaker | AD 1 to 500 | Northwestern New Mexico | Used the Atlatl, gathered food, and made fine baskets |
| Modified Basketmaker | AD 500 to 700 | Northwestern New Mexico | Lived in pit house villages, used the manos and metate, learned pottery-making, and used bows and arrows |
| Developmental Pueblo | AD 700 to 1050 | Northwestern New Mexico | Built Adobe houses, used cotton cloth and infant cradleboards |
| Great Pueblo | AD 1050 to 1300 | Northwestern New Mexico (Chaco Canyon, Aztec) | Built mulitstories pueblos, practiced irrigation, and laid out road systems |
| Rio Grande Classic | AD 1300 to 1600 | West-central New Mexico, Rio Grande Valley, Pecos | Abandoned northwestern New Mexico sites, migrated to new areas of settlement, and changed building and pottery style |
Read more about this topic: History Of New Mexico
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—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)