An aerial photo of the Arroyo Hondo Pueblo excavation.
Guest post by Lisa Hunter, SAR’s Arroyo Hondo collections move assistant.
In 1970 former SAR president Douglas Schwartz began test excavations at the fourteenth-century Pueblo site of Arroyo Hondo, located approximately five miles south of Santa Fe. With the support of grants from the National Science Foundation, full-scale excavations were conducted in the summers of 1971 through 1974. The collection is currently housed at the School for Advanced Research, under the care of the Indian Arts Research Center, and is a valuable source of information for Southwestern archaeology and especially northern Rio Grande archaeology.*
Lisa Hunter working on the Arroyo Hondo collections at SAR.
Earlier this year, SAR made the decision to transfer its only archaeological collection to the Center for New Mexico Archaeology, the state repository for such collections, where it will be able to receive more specialized care. Lisa Hunter, Arroyo Hondo collections move assistant, was hired by SAR in mid-October to facilitate this transfer. Over the next year, she will inventory the entire collection, pack the objects, and transport the collection to the CNMA.
Lisa has a bachelor’s degree in archaeology/anthropology with a concentration in forensic anthropology; a master’s degree in human osteology, paleopathology, and funerary archaeology; and a professional development graduate certificate in museum studies. She has held internships with the National Park Service Chaco Culture National Historical Park and Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. She is excited to work with the collections management team at SAR and to be a part of moving this important collection to its new home.
For more information about Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, please visit https://www.arroyohondo.org or browse SAR Press’s Arroyo Hondo series.
*The Arroyo Hondo collection does not contain any human remains. Collection items falling under the jurisdiction of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 were returned in 2006.
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“Making Medicine: Apsáalooke Conversations on Land, Water, Culture, and Art”
Wednesday, March 10, 2021, 2 p.m. (MST)
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