Object of the Month: Arrow Heads

Object of the Month: Arrow Heads

By Amanda Mather For the past 2.5 million years, people have been manipulating rock to do our bidding: sharpening and shaping stone into things we can scrape, hunt, cut, and drill with. Rock has been our friend! Projectile points and stone tools are great ways to see...
Object of the Month: Bacins

Object of the Month: Bacins

By Amanda Mather Well, it’s not a pretty subject, but it is one that we all face, day in and day out. So, we wondered, how did Spanish colonists deal with “it?” “It” being the most mundane of tasks: using the bathroom. In rural and...
Object of the Month: Ristras

Object of the Month: Ristras

by Amanda Mather One of the most ubiquitous sights in our gorgeous state, the ristra, is one of New Mexico’s great visual icons.  But other than being awesome looking, it did, and to some, still does, serve a very practical purpose:  not running out of chile...
Object of the Month: Horno

Object of the Month: Horno

by Amanda Mather Along with the Pueblo implements for the processing and cooking of corn (manos, metates, comals, etc.) with the Spanish came wheat and thusly bread, and the deep desire for more of it. This included an oven appropriate for the task of baking bread, of...
Object of the Month: Manos y Metates

Object of the Month: Manos y Metates

by Amanda Mather Manos and metates (or, in nerdy archeology speak “groundstone”) have been one of the most common food preparation objects in the Southwest for the last 5,500 years. They have existed in New Mexican households from the late Archaic period...