Award-Winning New Exhibit on Display at Jemez Historic Site

New Mexico Historic Sites and the Pueblo of Jemez won the Archaeology Heritage Preservation Award in May of this year from the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division and the New Mexico Cultural Properties Review Committee. The award was presented at the 2019 New Mexico Historic Preservation Awards for collaboration during the Dig Giusewa archaeology program.

New Mexico Historic Sites director Patrick Moore, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Christopher Toya, manager Matthew Barbour, coordinator Ethan Ortega, and coordinator Marlon Magdalena attended the ceremony to receive the honor presented by Department of Cultural Affairs Cabinet Secretary Debra Garcia y Griego and Cultural Properties Review committee member and historical archaeologist Douglas Boggess.

Dig Giusewa focused on archaeological investigations of a large rectangular room just north of the visitor center at Jemez Historic Site. Over the course of the fall and spring field seasons, New Mexico Historic Sites staff, Jemez Pueblo tribal members, University of New Mexico graduate students, and Friends of Coronado and Jemez Historic Site volunteers worked to address long-held questions about the Jemez people involving their origins and how their lives changed after the arrival of the Spanish. This resulted in the collection of over 10,000 artifacts and the documentation of structures thought to have been abandoned during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

The Archaeology Heritage Preservation Award is the second award given to New Mexico Historic Sites Public Archaeology Program since its inception in 2017. The first was an Award of Merit given by the American Association of State and Local History to the Coronado Historic Site and the Friends of Coronado and Jemez Historic Site for the Dig Kuaua project in 2018.

One of two posters released this year during Historic Preservation Month featured the Dig Giusewa excavation at Jemez Historic Site. The image was taken by Dan Monaghan of the New Mexico Department of Tourism. Copies of the poster are available at both Coronado and Jemez Historic Sites.

The massive overhaul of the Jemez Historic Site visitors center was completed by students enrolled in the New Mexico Highlands University Program in Interactive Cultural Technology (PICT). This program is coordinated by the chair of the Media Arts and Technology Department, Miriam Langer. The new visitor experience includes 3-D projection mapping, an oral history video, a children’s activity booklet, updated trail guide, and visitor center tourist kiosk.

Both the award-winning and new exhibits are on display at Jemez Historic Site, 18160 Highway 4 in Jemez Springs. Open Wednesday through Sunday, 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Admission is $5 per adult. Children and Jemez Tribal Members are free.