Dryland Crops and Game / Cazar y cosechar en tierra seca

Drought-resistant corn, planted eight inches deep on this north slope, was the staff of life for this pueblo. Archeology here reveals tiny fragments of beans, squash, piñon nuts, yucca, and prickly pears, along with the bones of tens of thousands of jackrabbits, cottontails, deer, pronghorns, and even bison. After Spanish priests and settlers came to New Mexico, European wheat, cattle, sheep, and goats joined these earlier Indian foods. Hunters straightened and smoothed their arrow shafts on special grooved stones, arming them with points made of jasper, chert, chalcedony, or obsidian. Salt from nearby lakes preserved the game meat.

Deer Canyon, New Mexico · United States