Puerco Pueblo
Puerco Pueblo is a 100-plus room pueblo site located near the Puerco River.
Guide Sections
Use Puerco Pueblo's guide sections to understand how this stop fits into the larger park plan.
Puerco Pueblo Details
Difficulty
Low
Distance
N/A
Estimated time
N/A
Region
N/A
Beginning in the 1200s, the Puebloan people began to shift from small, scattered villages to living in large pueblo communities. Puerco Pueblo is a 100-plus room pueblo site located near the Puerco River, which would have provided a good source of drinking water as well as water for crops such as corn, beans and squash. Puerco Pueblo grew to its largest size around 1300, when it may have been home to around 200 people. The one-story village was built around a rectangular plaza, and the rooms functioned as living quarters and storage. Most activity, such as cooking and craft-making, took place in the plaza. Several underground rooms, called kivas, were used for ceremonial practices. Entry into the village was via ladders over the exterior wall. By the late 1300s, climate change made the area inhospitable for crops and the village was all but abandoned by 1380. Visitors to Puerco Pueblo can access the site via a trail at the south end of the parking lot. The 0.3-mile trail is mostly paved and runs through the partially excavated site and includes a look at some petroglyphs. The former checking station has been converted into an interactive museum exhibit that is accessible on the trail.
