Taos Pueblo is a World Heritage Site

By Larry Torres, Associate Professor, UNM-Taos

When scientists and culturalists look back on our planet’s past they often say that the history of mankind is relatively new by comparison. However, certain corners of the world mark sacred areas honored for their contributions to the ascent of Man. There are hundreds of World Heritage Sites around the world designated by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). In the United States alone there are twenty one such sites. In New Mexico there are only three: Chaco, Carlsbad Caverns and Taos Pueblo.

According to anthropologists, Taos Pueblo dates back some one thousand years. In the scope of world affairs, just about the time that William the Conqueror was crossing the English Channel to fight with King Harold of England during the Battle of Hastings in 1066, Taos Pueblo was formalizing its foundations.

There are of course no written records dating back that far locally. What we know of the area comes down to us from legends and stories passed from one generation to the next supplemented by archeological digs.
 
Accordingly, the ancient legends tell about a time when Man was formed out of clay in the sipapú or womb of Mother Earth. There, the spirits taught Man how to use and respect the plants, minerals and waters of the earth and how to use their curative properties. These curanderos or folk healers had this power because they never sinned against the earth. But as Man progressed, he grew greedy and arrogant and the water tables dropped, forcing Man to undergo great migrations to escape the arid desert that took over once fertile plains.

Then, continues the story, two tribes came to the Place at Red Willows. This would be very near to where Pot Creek exists today. The tribes separated and one went north and the other went south. Western tradition called these the tribes of San Jerónimo and San Lorenzo. Today they are called Taos Pueblo and Picurís Pueblo respectively.

Taos Pueblo was founded on cast and pour adobe mud dwellings that allowed only for the building of squat, two-story houses. The doors and windows of these houses were located on the roofs with access to them being only by way of notched poles or kiva ladders that could be pulled up in case of enemy attacks. When Spaniards brought Moorish adobe building techniques learned from the ancestral Berbers of North Africa, this knowledge transferred to Native culture and the buildings of Taos Pueblo grew much higher.

The Pueblo rose on both sides of Rio Pueblo Creek that draws its water source high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The early Pueblo parameters were defined in old Spanish chronicles as “a thousand varas (rods) radius from a cross planted in the middle of the cemetery.” That would have been in the patio of the old Church of San Jerónimo. In 1933 owing mainly to the fact that the people of Arroyo Seco have let many of their property back taxes lapse, the federal government formed the Pueblo Reservation by expanding its borders from the Pueblo all the way to El Salto Creek. Arroyo Seco residents on the east side of the creek had to relocate to the west side.

Today Taos Pueblo is visited by scores of tourists who come to marvel at its scene harmony in the shadow of Taos Mountain.
For more information visit  www.taospueblo.com.