Farming in a Difficult Land

One of the most remarkable discoveries around Sapawe concerns agriculture.

Growing substantial quantities of food in northern New Mexico was never easy.

The growing season could be short.

Rainfall was unpredictable.

Frost could destroy young plants in spring or mature plants before harvest.

Drought might persist for years.

Rather than simply accepting these limitations, ancestral farmers altered the landscape.

Archaeologists have identified around Sapawe evidence of check dams, terraces, diversion structures, field houses, cobble-bordered fields and gravel-mulched gardens. One regional study described at least twenty-four field houses as well as numerous agricultural constructions around the settlement.

Later surveys of the El Rito and Ojo Caliente drainages identified extensive surviving traces of gravel-mulch gardens, cobble-bordered fields and related agricultural features.

These were sophisticated responses to an unforgiving environment.

A Garden Covered With Stones

One of the most fascinating agricultural techniques involved covering or surrounding cultivated soil with carefully selected stone and gravel.

At first this sounds counterproductive.

Why put stones in a garden?

Because stones could help conserve moisture.

Gravel mulch could reduce evaporation, modify soil temperature and help retain precious rainfall around plants.

Researchers studying northern Río Grande agriculture have documented gravel-mulched bordered gardens around Sapawe and elsewhere in the Chama Valley. Contemporary archaeological descriptions note that the gravel helped retain the water that fell on the fields.

Imagine the labor involved.

Stone after stone had to be moved.

Fields had to be shaped.

Water had to be watched.

Soil had to be understood.

This was environmental knowledge developed through generations of observation.

The farmers of Sapawe were not merely living upon the landscape.

They were carefully managing it.

Corn and the Rhythm of the Year

Corn lay at the center of Pueblo subsistence, accompanied by beans, squash and other cultivated foods.

Agriculture imposed an annual rhythm upon village life.

Fields had to be prepared.

Seeds had to be planted at the proper time.

Moisture had to be watched.

Young plants had to be protected.

Crops had to be harvested, dried and stored.

Seed had to be saved for another year.

A successful harvest did more than feed a family for a few weeks. Stored food could mean survival through winter and provide security against future crop failures.

The landscape surrounding Sapawe therefore would have looked markedly different during its occupation.

The great pueblo was surrounded not simply by natural vegetation but by a patchwork of fields, managed plots, trails, water-control structures and working areas.

The countryside itself was part of the community.