OAS | OCTOBER 2023

The Friends of Archaeology board is planning a number of fascinating guided hikes over the next year. The first in the series will be a guided hike of Comanche Gap in the Galisteo Basin.

Tour Times Available (Limit 12 People per Tour)
Saturday, October 7th at 8:00 a.m.
Saturday, October 7th at 9:30 a.m.
Sunday, October 8th at 8:00 a.m.
Sunday, October 8th at 9:30 a.m.

Tickets:
$85 for Friends of Archaeology (FOA) members
$95 for Non-Members.

Click Here to Register

The Galisteo Basin, a short drive south of Santa Fe, shelters a well-preserved multicultural landscape with an epic history. Today’s rangelands and movie locations were full of productive farming communities from the 13th through 17th centuries. In the late 15th century, super-pueblos of up to 2,000 rooms dominated the landscape. Lying between the Plains and Pueblo provinces, the Galisteo Basin saw historic interactions among multiple cultures, most intensely after the beginning of Spanish colonization.

About two million years ago, the Galisteo Basin was the setting for a significant geological event. Molten igneous rock filled fractures in the basin within the overlying 60 million-year-old layers of sedimentary rock. As the softer rock eroded, curtains of igneous rock, or “dikes,” were left. One dike, known as Comanche Gap, formed a boundary between the Plains to the south and the farming super-pueblos and later Spanish missions.

Comanche Gap’s dramatic dike is richly decorated with rock art. Although images include Puebloan cultural symbols, the dominant themes are hunting and warfare, in keeping with the tension between Plains and Pueblo peoples.

Because Comanche Gap cuts across multiple land ownerships, access is tightly controlled. San Cristobal Ranch has generously allowed Friends of Archaeology to offer tours of the eastern portion on October 7 and 8.

Note: It has been five years since Friends of Archaeology has been able to set up a tour like this. The rock art on the eastern portion of the dike (San Cristobal Ranch) is remarkable and represents one of the most significant areas of intersection between Plains Indian and Pueblo cultures.
A brief overview of the site can be found online at Galisteo Basin Archaeology El Crestón (https://galisteo.nmarchaeology.org/sites/creston.html)