Underground Housing / Hogares subterráneas

The first known people in this area built homes partially underground, with upper walls and wooden roofs covered by thick layers of earth. For many centuries, these pithouses were the most typical dwellings in the Southwest. About 900 years ago, jacals, with woven wicker walls plastered with mud, replaced pithouses. Above-ground stone pueblos, like Las Humanas, began to appear only in the 1300s. Nearly 1,200 years ago, the first settlers built small communities on Chupadera Mesa, the high ground in the distance, and distinctive pot sherds link these Jornada Mogollón people to Indians living in the deserts far to the south.

Deer Canyon, New Mexico · United States