Tyuonyi Village, Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, NM (4)
**Bandelier National Monument** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 66000042, date listed 10/15/1966
12 mi. S of Los Alamos on NM 4
Los Alamos, NM (Sandoval County)
A National Historic Landmark (www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/list-of-nh...).
Bandelier NM was created by the Proclamation of President Wilson on February 11, 1916, primarily to preserve a series of prehistoric Indian dwellings and the material culture of the people who lived here.
According to archeological evidence, Bandelier became occupied in the early 13th or late 12th century by people of the Anasazi culture. The area was probably occupied continuously until the middle or late 1500's by a people who lead basically an agricultural way of life - growing limited crops in the summer; gathering certain native plants, nuts and fruit; and supplementing their diet with wild game.
In the early 16th century the people began leaving Bandelier; the area was probably completely deserted by 1580—Just 40 years after the coming of the Spanish. (There is no record indicating that Bandelier was visited by any of the early Spanish explorers.) Exact cause of abandonment of the dwellings is unknown. For centuries the Indian farmers lived in the Pajarito canyons, built villages, honeycombed the cliffs with artificial caves, and tilled the soil of valley and mesa top. With the passing years, such influences as drought, soil-eroding flash floods, soil depletion, raiding Indians, famine, and disease— singly or in combination—forced the canyon dwellers again to seek new homes. Undoubtedly, some of the descendants of the Indians of the Pajarito Plateau still live in modern pueblos along the Rio Grande. (1)
Tyuonyi, as with many of the archeological sites along the Pueblo Loop Trail, was excavated in the early 1900’s. When the site was uncovered, much of the stone walls were intact. However, most of the mortar that bound the stones together was lost to erosion. That missing mortar was replaced, first with concrete and more recently a permeable mud mortar, to keep the structure intact. A site such as this is considered to be stabilized, not reconstructed. (2)
References (1) NRHP Nomination Form s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg...
(2) Bandelier NPS www.nps.gov/band/learn/photosmultimedia/mlt-stop-8.htm
Tyuonyi Village, Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, NM (4)
**Bandelier National Monument** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 66000042, date listed 10/15/1966
12 mi. S of Los Alamos on NM 4
Los Alamos, NM (Sandoval County)
A National Historic Landmark (www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/list-of-nh...).
Bandelier NM was created by the Proclamation of President Wilson on February 11, 1916, primarily to preserve a series of prehistoric Indian dwellings and the material culture of the people who lived here.
According to archeological evidence, Bandelier became occupied in the early 13th or late 12th century by people of the Anasazi culture. The area was probably occupied continuously until the middle or late 1500's by a people who lead basically an agricultural way of life - growing limited crops in the summer; gathering certain native plants, nuts and fruit; and supplementing their diet with wild game.
In the early 16th century the people began leaving Bandelier; the area was probably completely deserted by 1580—Just 40 years after the coming of the Spanish. (There is no record indicating that Bandelier was visited by any of the early Spanish explorers.) Exact cause of abandonment of the dwellings is unknown. For centuries the Indian farmers lived in the Pajarito canyons, built villages, honeycombed the cliffs with artificial caves, and tilled the soil of valley and mesa top. With the passing years, such influences as drought, soil-eroding flash floods, soil depletion, raiding Indians, famine, and disease— singly or in combination—forced the canyon dwellers again to seek new homes. Undoubtedly, some of the descendants of the Indians of the Pajarito Plateau still live in modern pueblos along the Rio Grande. (1)
Tyuonyi, as with many of the archeological sites along the Pueblo Loop Trail, was excavated in the early 1900’s. When the site was uncovered, much of the stone walls were intact. However, most of the mortar that bound the stones together was lost to erosion. That missing mortar was replaced, first with concrete and more recently a permeable mud mortar, to keep the structure intact. A site such as this is considered to be stabilized, not reconstructed. (2)
References (1) NRHP Nomination Form s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg...
(2) Bandelier NPS www.nps.gov/band/learn/photosmultimedia/mlt-stop-8.htm